#see antoinette and armand

[loumandforyou]

Girl if Louis had to sit through the same opera ran by vampires like Santiago, dozens of times, he'd bring a book, too. Also, Claudia was in the play. Was Louis ONLY interested in what Lestat likes and not Armand OR Claudia or his own interests?

also didn't louis judge lestat heavily for pretending to read books to pass as cultured? didnt he ignore him at HOME as he read his books?

[dlsintegration]

Honestly wtf are they smoking bring her back??? Literally no one wants to see that shit also its just stupid to do fake out deaths like wasn't the whole point of burning her to show that they DID know how to kill a vampire and that Lestat wasn't burned on purpose

I think they purposefully didnt mention that (per anne's books) the ashes of a burnt vampire body HAVE to be scattered in order to effectively destroy it so I guess it could be justified... also atp its fair to guess the actual Murder Night(tm) didnt happen the way we've seen it play out in s1 so. all in all its canon compliant, I'm a bit. weary but I'm curious to see where they go with it tbh

[m0chisenpai]

Louis x reader x Armand

The reader is a witch and she meets Armand and Louis and Claudia when going to watch a vampire play. They are mesmerized by her enchanting presence, wondering what and who she is

superstitious

˚｡⋆ louis de pointe du lac x black!fem!reader x armand

˚｡⋆ platonic!claudia x black!fem!reader

in which the missing piece fills the gaps

author note: We're gonna play with the idea that Louis has somewhat integrated into coven life

Another night of plays. And a new role for Claudia. A nod to the past, Claudia plays the maid to Marie Antoinette who witnesses both affairs and murders of the king and queen.

The role is silent, but it is better than falling out a window every singe night in that godforsaken blue dress. At least she could be a woman for the many nights to come. She'll give Louis that little credit due.

As always, Louis assumes his usual spot, watching his sister perform while his companion sits above. There is peace between all three. And at the same time, a feeling of lonesome resides. Like there is something missing. He assumed Madeline would fill it, a fledgling that he felt such pride and dare say love.

But the loneliness remained. She could feel it in him. But Louis would brush her curious gaze aside.

Until that evening when she enters.

Armand smells her before she even steps foot into the theatre. It is rich, it is new. It almost smells familiar of his previous years abroad. Whoever is here, their blood sings to his dead heart. It begs for him to consume it, to be bathed in it.

Had an ancient one found their way back? He looks down into the seats. Soldiers, husbands and wives, students fill the house. But he sees nothing.

Louis catches Armand's gaze, he sees his gaze, 'what is it?'

'Something is here. An ancient thing or being. I do not know what it is. But there is power in it.'

His gaze shifts to Medline, 'keep watch over yourself and your companion.'

"One ticket please!" The dressed up vampire hands the young woman her ticket which she holds between gloved hands. She felt out of place in her softer colors against the dark theatre, but she always did stick out. Perhaps the vampire assumed her to be a child, she certainly exuded such child like excitement as she skipped into the theatre

"Vampires pretending to be humans pretending to be vampires," you whisper to yourself in awe finding your seat. "How dramatic, Prudence was right. But when is she never?"

The act begins. Murder marks the end of all the scenes and your laughter is like a bell in the vampires ears. Armand searched but can not find you nor can Louis pinpoint your presence. But a magnetizing feeling washes over their bodies.

Then the final act happens. The vampire troupe feast on the woman and silence fills the theatre. But you stand in loud applause shouting your praise in French. And it is as though the world ends when all three look upon you. Even though the applause thunders over your praise, they hear it so loudly.

How your eyes shimmer in praise, how your pearly white smile lights the room. Claudia freezes with the blood dripping along her lips. Trying to remember your face as the curtains pull shut. Armand watches as you look up, nodding your head giving your applause to him now.

But Louis, oh he wants you then and there. But the crowd keeps him from meeting you in the aisles as you quickly move out.

You may appreciate the arts, but you know not to engage those much farther up the food chain. Especially without the protection of your mother and sisters.

"Oh sisters it was wondrous as you said!" You whisper in awe as you tie your scarf looking in to the mirror of your flat. Though it is not your reflection that stares back, but fragmented visions of each one of your sisters.

"Did I not tell you it was a delight, though in their early days they were more Shakespearean. I suppose they choose to cater to their English crowd now."

"And times are changing sister dear. Some of us have not graced this land as long as you have," you smirk as she gasps at your retort.

"And did you see the leader? Is he not handsome!" Your fellow sister Urydice exclaims appearing from the lower part of the mirror. Her milky white gaze grounds you as she press forward closer.

"He was..beautiful." you shyly whisper and the girl squeals.

"Oh you must approach them! you must! if not for you then for romance my sister!" She was always the most romantic of you all. Each of your sisters had their areas of the arts they adored. And your dear sister favored love above all. She dabbled in charms of love, predicting marriages, helping restore some and even blessing marriages.

"Enough girls return to your chambers."

"Yes Mother." You whisper your goodbyes to all the girls until she sits in front. Your leader, the mother of your group. She is old and wise from the many lifetimes she has survived, but no age touches her complexion. Her hair large and thick is braided back and you realize how much you miss your mother.

You were the youngest of your sisterhood. This would be your third year adjusting to being apart from the group. she could tell it was hitting you the hardest, but you desired to show her you were worthy of bearing her mark. You felt a desire to prove you could be just as strong as her daughters.

"My darling," she whispers with a smile on her lips "I see you are adjusting well to the city of love." You quickly nod, folding your hands tight in your lap. "Be safe. These vampires hold great power. And they have numbers. Until we have arrived you are to not engage them, please my dear."

"Yes mother," you bow your head and press a kiss to your pointer and middle finger pressing it to the glass. And as soon as she does the same all that is left is your reflection.

You should listen to her, but you don't. You ponder and mull over the many protection casts that could offer you a chance to possibly approach. But in the end you toss any ideas aside and blow all the candles out and raise a hand to dim the lamps as well.

And as you shed your robe to slip into your bed. The ruby eyes that watch from your balcony disappear into the night.

That next night you sit at a cafe writing letters to your scattered sisters. Some in English, three in French and the one in Italian you work on slowly, whispering your thoughts to yourself.

"You're not from here ma'am? Don't hear Italian around here too often," the young girl sitting in front of you startles you, but you keep your face neutral. The younger ones are far more dangerous. Quick tempered, more fierce.

But you remind yourself you are in the public eye. There is not much she could do now.

You smile at her and shake your head. "No, I am not. But Italy is not my home unfortunately." You sip from your glass of coffee. "I must say you are an exceptional actress. The breath was taken right out of me, especially at the end."

"Thank you, years of practice led me here."

"From...America?" you guess, no you know.

Her eyes widen as does her smile, "how'd you know?"

"Southern accent. Heard it growing up when I was a bit younger than you, course till we moved and such."

"Claudia, what'd I tell you bout disturbing folks?"

You hate to admit how the man who joins you both at the table makes your eyes widen. The way he places his hand on the back of her chair, appearing from the entrance inside the cafe to sit beside her. Your cheeks feel hot as his gaze settles upon you. You seem to have some affect as well because he is no longer chiding at the girl.

"No, she is fine sir. Just some simple conversation is all" you tilt your head, "your daughter I am assuming?"

"Ah well...yes" he fumbles his words. "Lost her mother and wound up here for some time."

"How sweet," you smile at the two now bundling your letters to drop at the post hoping the tremble of your hand is unnoticeable. "I should be taking my leave now. It was lovely to speak to you both."

"Claudia," she quickly shakes your hand when you step to her.

"Louis."

They wish you could stay. But you toss the necessary amount by your cup and leave the two behind to watch you walk down the stony path. You move slowly, hoping the urgency in your leaving goes unnoticed. Where two are gathered surely a secret third will try and interceded. To make you a meal.

One night turns into two, then three when you return again it has been a challenging week. A week of you trying to avoid that theatre, but they call out to you in the night. "Come, come to us." It's as though they sit by your windows whispering, begging for you. But the leader requests your presence tonight.

One of the women leads you to where he sits. The only empty seat beside him is where you situate yourself.

"When did he turn you?"

"Don't have a creator." You whisper, eyes remaining on the stage. They flicker to Louis who looks up, giving you a smile which you quickly return along with a small wave.

"You know we are not human, yet you yourself are not one of us," now his head turns to look at you. "But you do not smell mortal. And your presence...it is unusual."

"I smell?"

"Nothing like the boys of war I can assure you, it is not unwelcoming" Armand can not help the smallest of smiles when he hears your sigh of relief. "But I must ask you again. What are you if not human?"

You hesitate, remembering the words of your mother. "We are not human. In the past humans maddened by thoughts of God and Satan killed us one by one. They stopped it from being publicized but they still hunt us to this day running us into the shadows of the night and to all corners of this world."

"You are a witch?"

"We refrain from calling ourselves that," your hand rests against a necklace. The very one all of you share engraved with an ancient sigil, the metal untouched by the years you have owned it. "We are scattered across the world to avoid any more unnecessary murders."

You pause to clap for Claudia, smiling as she grins up at you at the end of her act.

"Will you be in France for long?" Armand asks once you sit back down.

"I would like to be. Rome was for a moment. And I am not sure I wish to return again to Greece, though I miss the waters." Armand returns his gaze down to Claudia and Louis both steal glances at him.

"If you stay here, I can gurantee your safety."

Claudia adores you and spends any moment she can to hear about your travels. Taking you to Madeline's shop where the young fledgling happily dresses and styles you and around the city while Louis walks around the city with you. Taking shots of you facing the moonlight or along the river. They are some of his best work.

Armand shows you artwork from the world. And some of his older works of plays dating back to the theatre's founding days.

Each of them can not help but feel you fill the gap in their hearts.

They feel dizzy just being in the midst of your presence.

Then one night, as you sit atop Armand's lap. Louis' hand settles at the back of your neck, squeezing it gently to pull your head to look up at him. Your bare chest heaves as Armand lays kisses upon it. There is something electric in the air, something magical in your eyes.

The candles burn brighter with each kiss. Flickering with your breathing, as though they are breathing with you.

"Stay with us," his voice a whisper. Your eyes remain on his. He whispers it again, "join us."

Your mothers words are drowned from the two. Their warnings are nothing but a fly in your ear which you swat away.

"Yes, please." Armand lets a soft hiss as he bites into the juncture of your neck while Louis bites into the other side. And it is like liquid fire fills your vein and fills theirs.

The candles flicker out at that very moment.

It is as though you are bonded to them in that moment.

Theirs for an eternity.

[uthseikoashx-goingmyway]

things in IWTV season 2 i'd lose my mind if it actually happens (or when. because some of those things will happen.). sorry for the mistakes btw

1. Claudeleine romantic relationship

Claudia finally having a vampire lover she can be herself with. the romantic & sexual tension. the heart to heart Louis and Claudia would have before changing Madeleine. the yearning. the tragic ending. the change of dynamics in the De Pointe du Lac family. the disruption of it all.

2. an exploration of Armand's relationship to religion, faith and God

specially in 2022. past religious crisis. how he articulates his vampire nature, his faith and his despair. lots of hints of TVA. God and art. religion, Armand and Louis. his religion (conversion from being christian to being muslim in this universe? if so, why?). "i serve, a God," would you mind to develop?

3. dramatic irony about Daniel's past and Devil's Minion

the rent boy. Daniel actually realising he had been a dick about that. "oh." after understanding the irony of it all. Armand talking in riddles and hinting at something Daniel is totally ignorant of. young Daniel's life and messy, loving and weird relationship with Armand. some activism. 2022 Daniel getting old, sicker and sicker. laughs. angst. tension. yearning. longing stares. petty remarks. revelations.

4. Loumand complex relationship

the love and the suffering. how they are both deeply attached to each other. how they show their care. the place Lestat holds right in the middle. how they deal with Claudia's death. what Louis really thinks about it. the tension. the yearning. how their relationship actually developed. the extent of Louis' memory alteration and how it plays a role into their dynamics. the after: how Armand helped Louis. messy divorce vibes. petty moves. to what extent their relationship is doomed. how one person can love several persons and in different ways, and how complex and delicate it is.

5. The Groan™

what is that. a metaphor for sexual arousal? Lestat scratching the walls? Rashid trapped? some clues. what the fuck.

6. Antoinette alive and kicking

and coming back right on time for the trial, because it would be 1) so fucking funny 2) utterly tragic, considering Claudia would be killed for killing nobody.

7. amazing outfits

amazing outfits

8. lots of french

i'm french

9. Claudia and Armand's relationship

Claudia being protective of Louis. Armand dealing with it. some sort of bond rivalry. both of them aware that something's wrong with the other. Armand and Claudia's similarities being acknowledged (age, killing a human they loved — Charlie, Ricardo — and complex situation regarding their maker), even a possibility for some kind of understanding and compassion (making the end more tragic). Armand seeing a some of Lestat in Claudia. Claudia seeing Armand's love for Lestat. a common love for theater and spectacular shows. that awful experience before Claudia's death.

10. Louis and memories

the photos he takes (where are they in 2022? will they clash with Louis' tale?). the metatextual dimension of themes such as: unreliable narration, memories and perspective, autofiction. Daniel calling out Louis' avoiding strategies. Louis calling out Daniel's rudeness and biais. how Louis really sees his relationship with Claudia? the gap between Louis' and Armand's recalling. a deeper exploration of his superimposed identities (black, queer, american man; in 1940, 1973, 2022). learning how to trust someone new after being abused. the rain metaphors. Louis saying the most poetic and heartbreaking thing you'll ever heard. his relationship to vampirism as he joins Armand's coven. grief and loss of a family member. hallucinations and how they are filmed / manifesting. guilt. loving Claudia and Armand. loving Lestat, still. etc.

tysm for coming to my tedtalk. it was very self-indulgent but very much pleasant. i won't be mad if it doesn't happen (obviously!), or not like i imagine. still, it's fun to imagine and put that here on tumblr. no shame on lestat, i just have no special things i'm waiting for about him, and will be very happy indeed to see him again. salut

[raven-undergrove]

Santiago admits to being the one who planned Claudia and Madeleine's deaths to Louis in the final episode, and seeing as Lestat acted in the play, it's not directing it under duress that has allowed the narrative to condemn Armand. It's the fact that he lied about being the one to save Louis and downplayed his role in the trial. However, if we are to condemn Armand for lying, we must condemn everyone else, too, because they are all guilty of telling seismic lies at different points in time. Lestat lied to Louis and Claudia about having killed Antoinette in order to be welcomed back into their household. Louis and Claudia lied to Armand and the coven about their history & having killed their maker. This lie could be understandable in a moment of self-preservation if they were to get the hell out of dodge afterwards, but Claudia joins the coven and Louis starts up a romantic relationship with Armand, turning it from a lie to protect themselves into one of those seismic lies. Louis even tried to keep up this lie with Armand as he was being called out on it. He only told Armand what really happened because it became clear Armand knew the truth and there would be no convincing him otherwise. Daniel lied to Armand and Louis about working with the Talamasca and where he was getting his information from. You want to hate Armand for being a liar? You've got to hate the whole cast.

[nalyra-dreaming]

COMMENTS on 2x07 - SPOILERS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *FIRST OFF: GOD HAVE I CRIED *No breath, no relief, all the pain This… contains a lot of swearing. . . . . . . .

The fucking rat box - there is a significant time gap between Claudia being shoved in there and her on stage. I BET that will become "that" time frame later, when Armand.... finally gets to it.

Btw, the iron boxes... an iron entrapment. I'm not sure if deliberate, but there is a piece of lore from Blood Communion that could come into play here IF they should pick it up again, later on

I’m glad they made the mental influence clear right away. Like… it’s not even subtle. And Lestat acting weird AF isn’t subtle either. It’s clear. It’s scripted. It’s the “last play”. It’s been “designed, and rehearsed.”

The Achilles’ heel slashed is so… vicious

Louis sensing and smelling Lestat… oh honey

Like that they referred to “the old place” for the other theater

Them making him swear on her diary is sooooo…💀

Santiago is so PLEASED when Lestat returns to script lol… we don’t see it but I wonder how many of the jury it took

A story of love... 💀

They are using the music box music … the fuckers

Awwww Armand being “punished” to watch… nawwwwww glad Daniel is not buying it either... and by Sam, the playwright... with a scythe... nawww. Okay, everybody buying that after that little restaurant display raise their hands, lmao.

That Lestat sleeping in the dirt is just... wrong. We already KNOW he returned to Paris twice. Another hint!!!

The repeated hint at the “ancient blood”… very on the nose

Their eye contact

Them trying to make it seem as if Louis “hunted” Lestat… lmao. As if Louis could have if Lestat would not have wanted him to????

Santiago prompting Lestat…. they seem to have pushed the narrative into his mind

on a random note: the blue contacts look so much better this season???

Oh…. Lestat SNAPPING at “fags” - loved it - so fantastically intense and creepy

“where lies their disgust now”?

Lestat making that man feel what he feels - WHY didn’t you just show this to Louis?????

THE HAIR CHANGED!!! There is that strand again! And the perfect hair in other scenes!!! INFLUENCED!! Manipulated!! I’ve been fucking saying.

OOOOHHHHH MY GOD Claudia’s turning … Louis knowing about the laws, did Louis really promise to stay???? I mean that’s just bargaining, and Louis just… begging… oh god, AND THEN THE FUCKING CUT TO ARMAND’s LOOK OH YOU FUCKER

“you were manipulated into it”… yeah. Say it, Santiago

God. Lestat there. And Louis the way he sees him.

Lestat confirming that Louis did not share affection with him anymore, as said, for years

Yeah, no, Lestat’s pose there for the Antoinette reveal is totally… natural 💀

God, Claudia cackling at Lestat saying “she’s the best of my vampiric self”… 😭

Ep5 revisit. Uhhhhh boy did they expand on what we already knew. And I KNEW something happened in the coffin room that made Lestat snap!! I KNEW IT! Okay, they kept the weird logistics of the fall (for now at least), but… yeah. This makes at least… more sense than before, I guess. Also, Lestat fully breaking script and admitting it. KNOWING he had hurt Louis there. Knowing. (I still stand by the Amel theory for the outside part and the comment in 1x06. Since they are taking from Prince Lestat….)

“A wolf congratulated for not killing her pup”!!!!!!!!

Louis is wearing something other than black again!!!!

“and then - something real” - and Armand chiming in… how… inconspicuous 💅🏼

A Stoning. Indeed.

I’m not sure how much I believe of them waking Lestat tbh… like... with the supposed trial rehearsals... and the crossing over... nawwwww

That eating blood with a spoon is so… inefficient. Like, they drink so much more???? What kind of blood is that to savor it like that? Must be special??? Or it's just show.

Oh god. Madeleine choosing Claudia. She is my coven. God.

Ugh. Lestat breaking script for Claudia. AND BY GOD I HOPE CLAUDIA FULFILLS THAT PROMISE

Oohhhhwwwwwww and Armand working SO HARD ON SAVING LOUIS!!!!! YOU LITTLE…. GNAAAHHHHH I don’t even have a word. "bites something"

God the pebbles/rocks. The entombment. And the SAME stones at the Dubai tree…

Lestat, swaying on his feet

So. Armand tells us of Claudia facing her death bravely. And defiantly. And the stare of shock and pain on Lestat’s face. Armand… the last to know the truth… for now. -.-

PREVIEW

And Armand getting Louis out.. afterwards. When… the coven did not care anymore, right??????? Mh hmmm.

Louis getting their asses

Louis going to kill Lestat??? MHHHH

EPISODE INSIDER

"it’s a fake setup - props in a play". Yeah. THAT.

Claudia doesn’t give an inch - "she knows she’s right"

“She has Lestat’s blood - if they do anything, it’s come back with a vengeance”!!!!!!!!!!! YES PLEASE 😭

Claudia’s death represents Louis’ last connection to this world

“[Claudia] was a brilliant vampire.

IN - fucking - DEED

God, what an episode.

I am... somewhat irritated that the reshot the turning and did not really revisit murder night, because the discrepancies there still stand. Except they have always intended to return to it in s3, which might make sense. Still. A bit weird, all of it. And Lestat breaking out of the control and script to admit to hurting Louis. 😭

God.

[op-la]

What do you think Lestat was doing in the trial? /gen That is a very strange part of the show for me I don't think I understand it

Anon, you're not alone. I was confused with many details about the trial, too. My thoughts on it are not quite coherent at this point, but I'll try to put some of it down here.

The details that we do know are facts are:

Armand had complete creative control of the trial

Lestat was in Paris prior to the capturing of Louis, Claudia, and Madeline to rehearse the trial

Lestat made the decision to save Louis instead of Claudia

As for the question of why or what Lestat was doing at the trial, I think it's safe to assume that he's there to save Louis. My first thought when it's revealed that he was there to rehearse the trial was, "If he's there already, why didn't he just reach out to Louis and Claudia if he really wanted to save them?" And I think at that point he already knew that they didn't trust him, nor did they want to see him anymore, but again, this is just speculation on my part. What confuses me more, though, is why Armand would want Lestat to be there in the first place? Since he had full creative control of the trial, wouldn't Lestat be considered a liability? Or did he think that Lestat would get over it, like he did with Nicki, and play along? Idk, I think this part is still kinda confusing to me tbh.

Speculations aside, if they do revisit the trial in the future and expand it more from Lestat's or Armand's POV, I don't think it would lessen the impact of their abuse or absolve them of any of it. The facts are still clear. It was Lestat's abuse that pushed Louis and Claudia to flee to Paris. It was Armand who wrote and directed the trial with the full intention of lynching Louis and Claudia. Lestat had full knowledge of the trial and what was going to happen. Lestat chose to save Louis over Claudia. Furthermore, I don't think any discussions on Lestat's intentions would be very meaningful at this point tbh. There are arguments to be made that if he could he would save Claudia too, but I don't think it's uncharitable to read that he never intended to save Claudia in the first place, considering the fact that he wanted to get rid of her and replace her with Antoinette in 1.07. Again, I don't think his intentions matter much, since Claudia is dead. He already made the choice.

[dreadfuldevotee]

we're still getting some of the worst takes on the top/bottom discourse in 2025 instead of actually paying attention to what's onscreen. did people just suddenly forget that louis and lestat canonically weren't fucking for an extended time in their marriage? lestat perceived this as louis withholding sex from him, another example of him expressing entitlement over louis' body.

but no, louis needs magical healing dick from a white french... all so he can be "put in his place" as the satisfied housewife according to some of these fans. how nauseating.

Whaaaat?!?! noooo, Loustat was totally a consistently active and healthy sexual relationship. No, don't bring up Louis' weak libido and Lestat punishing him by cheating with Antoinette in episode 3. No, also not the 7 years squirreled away in Rue Royale where Louis only acknowledged Lestat to piss him off. Or the 6 months they were apart after Lestat beat the shit out of Louis for not fucking him. No no, magical white penis is what makes the world go 'round. Heaven forbid Louis find sexual gratification from anyone else.

Let's forget about how Louis who is constantly trying to get control over his own life might be into calling the shots in his bedroom, with a partner who is not only willing, but enthusiastic to explore the depth of his still burgeoning sexuality. Louis himself describes Paris as an awakening, and while the direct context of that line is about how proximity to Armand opened him up intellectually- it's no coincidence that they meet in a cruising park. That they cruise together seemingly all through their relationship. Remember when Lestat said "You can fuck them and I'll eat them?" and exactly a season later Louis and Armand are bashfully remincent on the young men they devoured- both literally and metaphorically? Viewing, this show specifically through a lense of Ethical Monogomy is the Thesis is profoundly stupid- straight up. It makes sense that Louis, who has never been in a relationship and has no desire for his peers, is not pleased by Lestat's wandering eyes especially as they kept seeming to wander to only white women. But enjoys seeing Jonah thought it was always going to be a fling between them. Lestat ofc punishes him for this aswell, and will continue to hurt Louis by cheating or mocking him with group sex. Armand, in all his crazy- isn't threatened by Louis having sex with other men. What Loumand has is just a fuckin kink, dude. They're exhibitionist with similar tastes in men and/or prey that it is something they can sustain from Paris, to SF to Dubai. Built a sex dungeon in your crypt with an Alaskan King bed that is quote "big enough to fit more [people] than them on it", a cuck chair, and steps with cusions that bear resemblance to amphitheater seating. Oh and kinky master/servant role play including vampire sex for a straight week. incase anyone forgot about the on screen vampire sex.

They only reason there isnt a 3rd person in Loustats bed is because Les is a jealous freak and world probably set the whole house on fire

[angrybubbles]

Death and Symbolism in Interview with the Vampire - Lestat de Lioncourt

Disclaimer: I have only seen the AMC adaption. Any knowledge from the books that I will occasionally use to support my point I have collected via tumblr osmosis. If you have read the books, please feel free to add or disagree as you please.

Now if there is a Vampire in the Chronicles that screams The Standard, I'd have to go with Lestat de Lioncourt. Part of it is the framing of his character from Louis' point of view, as Lestat is the deliverer of his death. The other part, as discussed in this post on Louis, is that he harkens back to the image of our establishing figures in Vampire literature.

I am aware this is immediately contrasted by good ol' Monsieur le Rockstar, but I am going to choose to keep the future of Lestat out of this analysis for my sake of mind, because the whole point of The Vampire Lestat is to recontextualize the first book. Just know I see the Brat Prince, I see his religious exchange with Jesus as a metaphor for redemption, and I choose not to add that to this cluster fuck.

Lestat de Lioncourt

Now Lestat is a fun character in a lot of ways. He is dramatic, eye-catching, annoying, and compelling in such a way that kind of settles itself over the story. Louis can try all he likes to claim he hates him, or no longer loves him, but Lestat is always there. As Armand points out, it always comes back to him. He is worshiped in the same way he is reviled; by being the giver of death, as well as a spark for change. Change of Louis, Claudia, Antoinette, Nicki, the Théâtre, ect.

Lestat's death was a horror show, as Louis so eloquently pointed out. One of many look-alikes piled in a room to be fed on by death until it culled them. Lestat, however, was the exception. He was given the gift to become death, as the one that granted it ended himself completely. In the show, he says he has no idea why, and that leads me to believe that he tries to make a reason why. Thus, why he is so flamboyant, narcissistic, and dramatic. He seeks reason for a death he did not consent to. He wants to claim it, to seem above it, and so he becomes a production of death. That legacy becomes the Théâtre de Vampire.

This is also reflected in his background. He is the youngest son of an ailing noble family. Lestat would already be in a place where proving his worth in life is a necessity, and this unfortunately is continued after he meets his death.

So, Lestat performs. And he is good at it. There is less of a lie to create this performance (in comparison with Armand), and so it is an earnest projection of "me, me, see me, love me." And so the deaths he gives are often quite dramatic and personal. If I had to assign the characteristics of Death he delivers, it is a Passionate Death and a Dramatic Death.

Let's think about the first kill we see of his in the series. A lamp-snuffer trying to put out the lights of New Orleans. Lestat plays with him, making him snuff out the light multiple times before dramatically launching himself to drag him off-screen. This playing with light is also symbolic of death, for the light (life) is always going to go out, but he's the one in control of it.

This performance is also what catches his eye on Louis. Louis performs a character to keep control in Storyville. He performs a character to stay in the closet. He performs to meet expectations, just as Lestat performs to be a vampire.

It's why he beckons Louis to his side, in the midst of Louis' incredibly personal grief with "Come to Me," because he's looking to create a distraction of passion. And instead, turns an attempt at redemption into a dramatic blood-soaked wedding at an altar he doesn't believe in. He chose a moment of passion and drama to turn Louis, to claim a sense of healing because he can "fix" this. He can fix Louis' hurt. (Alas, death doesn't heal all wounds.) To be loved by death is a promise of freedom and of perspective.

And this is also what helps Louis keep going, sometimes literally.

The death of Passion haunts Louis. A dramatic death often fosters a sense of guilt (or makes it, Passion creating Regret). However, as the end of season 2 reveals, Grief and Regret have also haunted Lestat. It's one of the reasons they are drawn to each other; Lestat has trouble feeling grief and regret and searches for it in others, and Louis has always put on a performance in life, so it feels most comfortable to him. He desires the drama of Lestat. They seek out what they feel are missing in themselves, and they find it in each other.

There's also the matter of turning Claudia. He didn't turn Claudia because he loved her (of course, neither did Louis), instead Lestat treated the turning as a passionate gift to a distraught lover. A dramatic end to Claudia's childhood innocence, which also includes the steps he takes to manage her. I don't mean to say he never loved her, but his love was also performative. Gifts and lessons, but never sincere connection.

And this line of drama and passion connect through all of the victims that Louis and Claudia tell us Lestat hunts for. The drawn out death of the Opera Tenor through humiliation because he soured a note. Haunting lovers lanes to taste their passion, cutting them short just as they reach the height of pleasure. Young men and beautiful women, whom he lures to himself with seduction and performance. He scoffs at searching for evil-doers or trying to bring about restorative justice through his actions (interesting, interesting, White Man in New Orleans), and instead it is all focused on him. "Me, me, me, me." This passion and drama is how Claudia tricks him into the murder attempt, because he can't say no to such an opportunity to perform. (I'm going to leave the Trial as a Sword of Damocles. Take the metaphor and run with it.)

It's interesting that while Lestat turns performers (Gabrielle who preformed as his mother, Nikki who performed with the Violin, Antoinette who was a singer, Louis who performed as a gangster, the ratcatcher) he is emotionally drawn to Love those who revel in grief. Perhaps this is him seeking out those who process the emotions that he masks over.

Now I mentioned racism in Louis' so I'm also going to mention it here, because it is so important to getting Lestat's role in the story. Anne Rice believed that Vampires are the ultimate metaphor for being an outsider, which I am now going to refer to as the Philosophical "other." Lestat, like many vampires in the series, seems to believe that the gift of death is the great equalizer. We do see, however, that that is blatantly untrue. Consider the great laws, and consider the race of the characters.

Now Lestat logically understands the racism pointed at Louis, but once he turns Louis he considers it part of the performance. Louis is now a higher being, he is above that. Lestat is unable to recognize that Louis is still "other" in ways he his not. Louis is gay, Louis is black, Louis has depression. This also affects Claudia. Claudia is a child (disabled), Claudia is black. Claudia is a woman. They have more layers (intersections, if you will) of "other" than Lestat has, who only has the additional "Lestat is Bi/Pan" which is able to pass more easily in society anyway. So if you are asking "is Lestat racist?" Yes, but because he thinks that the "other" of Vampirism trumps all the rest of the "other." Racism is a mortal problem, not a Vampire one.

And isn't it fitting that the next time he needs to be available, he's going to be a campy rockstar? Dramatic clown (affectionate).

[savagewildnerness]

Last part of TVL!

There's so much I feel like cannot happen on TV... Do you think some of it can happen? I guess, to embrace whatever will be instead as new can be exciting too!

Epilogue:

Questions:

Book-Lestat sleeps 1929-84 (55 years), but he’s really out of action 1860-1984 (from when Claudia murders him.) 124 years… He was mortal 1760-1780 then had pretty much 80 years of vampiric existence… really… when he awakens in 1984, although he is 224 years old, he has only lived 100 years  of life - only now is he really embarking on actual living-years beyond a mortal’s.  (It’s also implied Nicki is slightly older than Lestat as Nicki dies in 1789 and Lestat says he is 30.  This could just be an *ish*, but still…  This is also the year of Marius.  So Nicki would be born 1759 and Lestat 1760 in the book….). Also Lestat, Louis and Claudia are together for 65 years… Ish. Louis made a vampire in 1791 and Claudia in 1794.  Claudia and Madeleine are killed in 1865 in the book.

Now, on TV, Lestat is a mortal 1760-1794.  He turns Louis in 1910 and Claudia in 1917 and they kill him in 1940… He’s going to be rockstar Lestat in 2025-ish, at which point he would be 265 years old… he is going to have been out of the world pretty much 1940-2025 - 85 years, but how much dirt nap time will he have had and when?  I think he’s only going to sleep in between Nicolas and Louis myself.  If he really did sleep for around 100 years, that would take him to a comparable amount of existence as book-Lestat - around 100-ish years (105) of mortal and vampire existence.  Louis and Claudia and Lestat have only 23 years together, the three of them on TV?

OK… all that to say a few things - in 1860-1984 Lestat misses out on much of the Industrial Revolution, an era he finds desperately unromantic and depressing.  How will the time shift affect this on TV?  I think, given there’ll only be one nap it’ll be grief, not the era that drives Lestat underground most likely… but what is it about whenever Lestat rises that will bring him back?  *Just* Marius?  Because I would say NOW feel this dreariness and doom and lack of Romance of the Industrial Revolution…??  When compared to when book-Lestat wakes…

Q Will the show compare Nicki and Louis, or do you think they’ll be more different on TV given how Louis is compared to book-Louis.  Here, Lestat compares their cynicism and self-destructiveness and I think those two traits are held nay show-Louis too…

Q How will it affect things that it is Louis rather than Claudia who gives Lestat his near slip into mortal death?  The thing is, this is less true anyway on the show as Lestat is both stronger and less badly injured… and potentially it could up the poignancy of Loustat… but it would lessen something for Lestat and Claudia

Q Will Lestat not mention Antoinette, the way he doesn’t mention Antoine in the book.  LOL - poor Antoine!

Q Might Lestat actually still say his murder was all Claudia’s fault to Armand, at least initially?  

Q Book-Armand wants Claudia dead so he can have Louis and he wants Louis and Lestat to both think each other dead (though he’d kill neither.). But what does TV Armand want and why?  Is it safely, solely?  So he was willing for whoever to get killed at the trial as long as some thing remained so he could continue to exist and he literally wasn’t fussy?  This concept feels pretty vague and strange to me…?

Q P511-2 Louis says Lestat made fledglings in NOLA, but Lestat says they’re orphaned fledglings who just stumbled on his lair.  Who do you believe?  I believe Lestat in this as I think he’d have been way too weak from how everyone describes him to make any fledgling and also Louis only assumes they’re his fledglings.  However, I do believe Louis’ account that he visited Lestat in person, didn’t just see him through the window as Lestat describes here.  It makes no sense that Armand tells Louis to go to NOLA to see Lestat, then Louis finds Lestat and doesn’t even enter the building to speak to him.  In what world!  No world!  I think Lestat is just ashamed.  Not because of how pitiable he looks and is… but because he begged Louis to stay with him so pitiably and Louis left him.  I think the idea that Louis could walk away from him is too much for  Lestat’s mind.  And I also think he was pretty addled at this time - weak and every thing he’s unsure what was real or dream or illusion… so Lestat might not even fully remember it anyway, even though it happened.  I think Lestat is ashamed and hurt.

I do think they need to get across the fact of Amand’s incandescent rage because he loves Lestat, but Lestat loves Louis in a way he never did, Armand.

Q Did book-Lestat make Louis partly to punish him for Nicki?  And TV Lestat?

Notes:

“Louis was a sufferer.” - Is that what makes folk fascinating, Lestat?

“His blindness to the motivations or the suffering of others” reads like lack of empathy, naivety and self-centredness to me, as Lestat describes Louis… which doesn’t;t sound very charming to me…

Interesting that Louis eviscerates Lestat in IWTV, but p501 Lestat doesn’t care about denying any of that… BUT he wants us to know Louis begged Lester to never leave him - that Louis didn’t say he loved and needed Lestat is what bothers Lestat, not that he pained him as a literal Hell-Demon.

“He must look presentable, our lost lord.  That was always his way.”  I think this line could be on TV.

P510 - “My never ending supple of ‘coin of the realm’” - I love how Anne just writes this like it is here: a magical money tree.

“I’d slip a little deeper away from things, just lying in the dark.”  I love how Anne describes depression, grief and withdrawal from the world.

Has anyone read Black Mask?  Is it light or dark?  Serious?  Easy to read?

I wrote hearts over this last part of the book over and over: so much love for Louis.

Lestat is so out of it when Armand visits.  He doesn’t know what’s real and what isn’t and doesn’t have the capacity to even think on it. P513 - many quotes here.  Lestat feels close to madness…. And again, I say Louis did visit.

“Look at the fire.  Wouldn’t it be lovely if it took the whole room?  Wouldn’t it be lovely if it spread and spread and took us all?  You can never see things becoming impossible.  If only you knew beforehand the forces are… invisible… that bring you to a stop, you might be able to prepare… One day you can’ muster the will to cross the room.  Open spaces… passable… everywhere… who saw it coming?” Richard Greenberg, The Dazzle. I’m reminded so strongly of this when Lestat is finally talking about candles running out, time passing in strange ways and at last going into The Earth to hold him, surrounded by slithering things that are not horrific.

Akasha’s words are exactly Allessandras (p518 & 221)

Things that can’t happen on TV:

Lestat doesn’t have a full mortal lifetime with Louis and Claudia, only 23 years

Lestat can’t tell us he only killed the evildoer during his time with Louis without huge retcon of conversations we saw

Claudia isn’t the one who took him closest to a mortal death, it’s Louis.  And he was stronger and less injured, so also - not so close to a mortal death.

I’m really sad we can’t see Lestat as described on p504 - as a hideous and crippled monster, hunting on the outskirts of society, basically a revenant - his soul shattered as well as his body, such that his light is gone and he is a husk of a being, merely existing, more beast than human for sure.

Lestat cannot go to Armand in Paris in order to drink his blood and be healed.  He is not as injured and he is stronger on TV too.

Armand can’t trick Lestat the way he does in the book into being imprisoned as Lestat is incredibly mentally fragile as well as physically fragile here in the book - psychologically and emotionally, and I just don’t see how he can be to this degree on the show, once again, given the above changes and that he cannot have just gone through these years of revenant-esque existence.

Armand can’t see Lestat’s scars as he does in the book.

Armand can’t feel the level of triumph he does in the book.

Lestat’s vanity matters here - when Armand is taking him to the theatre, he does’t want to be *seen*, but given he never looked more immaculate than at the trial, he can’t be bothered about this…. Like book-Lestat wouldn’t want to see Louis in Paris as he’d be ashamed of being seen how he was there by Louis, for example.

Lestat is in fact so fragile here, that even is courage deserts him.  I want to see this Lestat in Paris, but I cannot conceive of how it could be possible given the changes on TV.

Assad would be so brilliant conveying Armand’s incandescent range at Lestat reminding him all he’d given him and expecting something now in return, when from Armand’s perspective, he hasn’t let go of what Lestat did to the old coven at all… but all of this can’t happen on telly…

Lestat can’t be kept in the Bosch basement of literal Hell….. nor can he be shoved with barely any warning into the trial as he rehearsed it on TV…. Might Armand keep him in one of the coffins in the cellar, like Nicki, like Louis for a time? (See quote p508). I don’t think so, but it is possible…

Claudia going silently into death didn’t happen.  It’s really sad how Lestat describes this in the book.

Armand pushing Lestat off the tower - it’s just too similar to the Louis-Lestat drop… unless Armand literally replicates it to punish Lestat???  But if that’s the case it isn’t like the book in any case.

Lestat being stuck in Paris (a place of trauma for him) for 2 years till he is strong enough to get back home can’t happen.

Armand’s vision of restoration to SadStat p514 can’t happen BUT I WANT IT.  I love how it echoes the glorious vision from when Lestat was but a baby vampire too, that Anne wrote in that magnificent prose!

Armand can’t watch over Lestat for 55 years in NOLA as Lestat sleeps like in the book, I’m sure.  Might he during Lestat’s 1800’s nap?  It’s described how he does this by Louis in the book on p531

Louis can’t have thought Lestat was dead… not pre-rock star era a anyway as he’s literally just seen him!  Too many changes for that.  In the books, when Louis visited Lestat, he thought he was dying a mortal old-age-esque death and he left him anyway, which for me amps up the tragedy of it, as Louis loves Lestat, yet leaves him.  Leaves him thinking he may never see him again, as he may now die.  And maybe it’s what he deserves.  And maybe it’s a kindness.  And now he is alive and restored here… but it can’t be this way on TV.  Things are not this way.

Lestat being sarcastic is fun:

Sarcastic about other vampires in fiction p502

And again, p530

Lines for TV

Harecatcher/ratcatcher from Armand to Lestat

Delicious it was, the hatred between us, or so I thought.  Such unfamiliar excitement, to have him there to ridicule and despise.

"I can't deceive you," I answered. "I can't love you. What are you to me that I should love you? A dead thing that hungers for the power and the passion of others? The embodiment of thirst itself?” - but when?  As not in NOLA…..

I hope Lestat says this “The earth was holding me. Living things slithered through its thick and moist clods against my dried flesh. And I thought if I ever do rise again, if I ever see even one small patch of the night sky full of stars, I will never, never do terrible things. I will never slay innocents. Even when I hunted the weak, it was the hopeless and the dying I took, I swear it was. I will never never work the Dark Trick again. I will just ... you know, be the "continual awareness" for no purpose, no purpose at all.”

I’m sure Louis will call Lestat Monsieur Le Rock Star.

“I think to be this happy is to be miserable, to feel this much satisfaction is to burn.” Lestat, on being with Louis.

“And I had always loved him, hadn't I, no matter what happened, and how strong could love grow if you had eternity to nourish it, and it took only these few moments in time to renew its momentum, its heat?” Such a lot of love in this meeting.

Hopefully we get to see Louis protect Lestat by punching someone like he does p544….

Dionysus in San Francisco:

Questions:

Q How will a rockstar tour work?  Akasha appearing at the final concert and that being San Francisco?  I guess the music industry is very different now… you wouldn’t get someone as famous as Lestat describes with such buzz yet who’d never performed live, I think…. Also, Louis worries about Lestat performing one concert… how will he feel about a whole tour?  When will Akasha wake?  How will Marius play Lestat’s music to her?

Q Will Lestat write an actual book?  Or will it be something else?  And how will Louis consume whatever it is?

Q P529 What’s the pain Lestat senses in Louis?  “I sensed a pain in him, running like a vein of ore through his whole being, a vein that could carry feeling to the coldest depths.” Yearning? Worry?  Guilt?  Regret?

Q Lestat seeks meaning to fit the age, but The Age now is the 2020’s, not the 1980’s.  What is the spirit and meaning of right now?

Q Any lines you think might be used as song lyrics?

Q: Will Lestat’s rockstar career be compared to Nicolas and the Theatre Des Vampires?

What Lestat is doing with his rockstar stuff is very similar to what Nicolas was doing with the Theatre des Vampires 200 years earlier. Both of them are actually revealing true vampire experience though art, which is perceived by mortals as only art.

But actually Nicolas did it in a more artistic & darker & meaningful way - with some kind of actual lesson about true evil in his art & the artistic expression of his own experience.

However, Lestat in true Lestat style goes all out on charisma & fun & entertainment & wants to create joy & enjoys the kind of pagan/religious/Witches’ Place Rapture of it all.

But, Lestat despises Nicolas’ art as a vampire: because it is so vampiric & inhuman. He calls it ‘petty’. But it *is* at least Nicki’s genuine expression.  And I don’t think we can argue anything other than that it was ‘better’ art, too!  And Lestat - you and Nicki both *are* vampires!  You made Nicki this!

In any case, what on Earth would 1780’s Lestat say to his own 1980’s art!!!?!

Lestat even calls his own lyrics puerile… so why does he not even want to make good art?  The lyrics in all caps and the fact they were vampire capes… it is all SO cheesy!!

I am also reminded of Lestat’s first on-stage vampire breakdown with his rockstar feats - there’s a similar vibe, except in a new era, where Lestat no longer scares as these humans can believe these things possible that weren’t possible 2 centuries earlier.

Q Lestat reading a Bowie biography at some point?  Surely some biography of some musician we’ll see…?

Lestat literally screams “"I AM EVIL! EVIL!”” P541 and it is SO Nicolas screaming what he truly is at passersby… yet the impact is different as 2025 is different.  But I feel you could parallel this somehow if you so chose to.

The concert is described as almost transcendental.

“Deliver me from this, deliver me from loving it. Deliver me from forgetting everything else, and sacrificing all purpose, all resolve to it. I want you, my babies. I want your blood, innocent blood. I want your adoration at the moment when I sink my teeth. Yes, this is beyond all temptation.” - Love me to death.

Notes:

“Our record album” is so antiquated!  Is it Lestat or Anne, out of touch?  Anne wasn’t old when she wrote TVL, so maybe it is intentionally Lestat?

Louis knows Lestat seeks him when he drives Diivisadero Street (p522 & p527)

Vampire loneliness on p523 “I realized that I possessed a new concept of loneliness, a new method of measuring a silence that stretched to the end of the world. And all I had to interrupt it were those menacing recorded preternatural voices which carried no images as their virulency increased:”

Lestat wants to feel the love of an audience, from the adoring swathe.  To be the God.

“My Louis” p523

“And at odd moments I remembered those long-ago nights at Renaud's little theatre too clearly. The strangest details came back, the feel of the white paint as I had smoothed it over my face, the smell of the powder, the instant of stepping before the footlights.” When I was 8 I was in Laurel’s ballet - a ballet written by a girl who’d once danced at the dancing school and tragically died young (I didn’t know her.  I was only 8.  She hadn’t been at the dancing school when I was there. I presume she must have died in her early 20’s and left the dancing school before I began when I was 2.)  Anyway, I was the youngest group in the ballet - we were 8-18 and it was all about the sea.  People played pearls, seahorses, the rainbow, the swirling waves, the sun…. But me?  I was SEAWEED.  To cap off the insult, most characters got a choreographed dance, but we just had to lie over rocks, still for the majority of the ballet then swirl about randomly for a moment.  But we also wore one-shoulder, poo BROWN leotards with thick, hurts hard elastic in and with straggly bits of green dangling off them on and our entire face and arms and legs and shoulder were covered in green greasepaint.  We did two shows some days and I can still smell that green greasepaint… which,  is NOT easy to get off, may I add! Just, Lestat talking of his painted face brings that smell and feeling back to me, too.

“"I want to affect things, to make something happen!”” Is this the root of Lestat?  Despite all in his mind, Lestat is a doer.

Salamander is hilarious.  I hope they keep the name on TV.

The oyster shell swimming pool is so ’80’s.

I love how Lestat describes Louis is this part of the book, and seeing Jacob and Sam together as Louis and Lestat with this vibe is going to be so beautiful.  I drew hearts all over the pages.

The embrace on page 526 reminded me of the S2E8 embrace?

“It was like taking pictures from the attic, cleaning away the dust and finding the colors still vibrant. And the pictures should have been portraits of dead ancestors and they were pictures of us.” - Such exquisite and evocative description. And “everything growing older, except us.” There’s a new sense of time for Lestat now.

Are you interested?  Yes, you know I am… hehehehehe - this will be electricity.

I love Lestat feeling too much to be able to say he loves Louis.

“I didn't tell him about the mortal part, the vanity of wanting to perform, the eerie madness that had come over me when I saw myself on the television screen, saw my face on the album covers plastered to the windows of the North Beach record store.” We could ask Sam if he can relate to Lestat here?

P532 Louis tells Lestat he thinks he understands but does he really - just as Allessandra did in Les Innocents so long ago.

P533 - talk of evil to fit the age… how would a vampire fit in in 2025?

P536 Love the talk of coming back to each other… though likely doesn’t fit for TV in quite this way.

“the love I felt for him was positively humiliating.”

“The morning was too empty after he had gone.”

P536 - crazy that Lestat has never actually even been to a gig to watch!  And it is interesting how he describes the experience of performing in such a religious-ritualistic way, that reminds me of Mael’s druid ceremonies and The Witches’ Place more than it reminds me of Renaud’s.  

I’d forgotten how many scythes there are in the last section!  How did they get them through security?!

Lestat and Louis both have the power to burn people on TV… not just Akasha, so some of this will be different.

I’m excited to see Gabrielle and Louis together!  What does Louis think of Gabrielle?  What does Louis understand of Lestat from meeting Gabrielle?

So interesting how you can feel the calm Akasha projects to Lestat and he alone.

“"That music of yours could wake the dead.”” Is such a Mum thing to say, haha!

“And I felt the voiceless cry rising out of me and traveling into oblivion. I could almost feel it traverse the world of visible proportions, feel it grow fainter and fainter, feel it burn out.” Gorgeously written!

I feel so bad for Marius at the end here.  Though he also, once again, did play Lestat’s music to Akasha!  I love the many repetitions of earlier phrases in this last section of the book - echoes through time.

“Alien, utterly foreign, yes.

But not uncivilized, no, not savage. She was not that. She was only just reawakened, my goddess, risen like a magnificent butterfly from its cocoon. And what was the world to her? How had she come to us? What was the state of her mind? Danger to all of us. No. I don't believe it! She had slain our enemies. She had come to us.” - lovely 

The end is great as a TV series ending!  Better than for a book!

“But I couldn't fight the drowsiness and heaviness any longer. Pure sensation was driving out all wonder and excitement. My body grew limp and helplessly still against the earth.

And then I felt a hand suddenly close on mine.

Cold as marble it was, and just about that strong.

My eyes snapped open in the darkness. The hand tightened its grip. A great mass of silken hair brushed my face. A cold arm moved across my chest.

Oh, please, my darling, my beautiful one, please! I wanted to say. But my eyes were closing! My lips wouldn't move. I was losing consciousness. The sun had risen above.”

I wonder how they will portray how Lestat feels towards Akasha on TV?

[best-iwtv-scene]

ROUND 1B, MATCH 1

Descriptions/Propaganda under the cut:

The five great laws (2x03)

Santiago reads out the 'Great Laws' that all in the coven must abide by to Claudia as part of an initiation ritual. Cutting between Claudia with the coven and Louis walking with Armand through the sewers, this scene highlights the danger that the Paris coven poses to Louis and Claudia. Each law that Santiago reads aloud has either been broken by Louis and Claudia, or will be broken as the season progresses, this threat continuing to loom over the two after this episode. This scene reinforces the doomed relationship between Louis and Claudia as a theme for the season, the distance between the pair causing Louis to lose hope in his life, and the bond between the two driving Louis's decision to start his relationship with Armand. Additionally, Claudia's desire for community with the coven is dashed immediately after the initiation, as she is given the role of 'Baby Lu', epitomising her struggle throughout the series. The scene is scored continuously by 'The Five Great Laws' by Daniel Hart, which ebbs and flows dramatically with the scene. "Don't give up on her. Tell her she's beautiful. Tell her that every morning."

Propaganda:

No propaganda was submitted for this scene.

Killing Lestat (1x07)

All the tension and anticipation built up throughout 1x07 leads to this scene. After initially leading the audience into thinking Lestat and his lover Antoinette had bested Louis and Claudia's plan, Lestat suddenly chokes and falls, weakened from poisoned blood coursing through his veins. Louis watches on in horror and guilt while Claudia taunts, imitates and takes great enjoyment in Lestat's pain, even using his blood to note down his final words, "Mets-moi dans mon cercueil, Louis, Louis." (Put me in my coffin, Louis, Louis). Louis slices Lestat's throat with his cane from 1x01, embracing Lestat in his final moments until dropping him to the floor. The scene is beautifully scored by Daniel Hart's 'Vicious', reminding the audience of the pair's dangerous love and attachment to each other as it first appears at the end of 1x05. Afterwards, Daniel pokes holes in Louis's narrative, revealing that Louis purposefully avoided doing this to keep Lestat alive off of the rats in the dump. The scene is a captivating conclusion to the season, altering all character relationships in anticipation of season two. In Dubai, the mysterious Armand is finally revealed, and Daniel's confidence in questioning Louis increases. In New Orleans, Louis and Claudia's relationship is left fractured after Louis threatens her over Lestat's body, and Louis is guilt-ridden from killing his lover and maker. "Louis. We are joined by a chord. A chord that you cannot see, but it is real... I have loved you with all myself... I'm happy it was you... here with me... a la fin."

Propaganda:

No propaganda was submitted for this scene.

[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.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep8 Musings - KING LOUIS 🤴🏾 (Spoilers)

My guy got that DEMON in him!

The disrespect. 👌

We can't hear you, BUFFOON!

Lou smacked the heck outta Armand, dang. XD (But just WATCH the braindead takes comparing Louis to Marius again, and how abusive the aggressive Black man is to the sweet innocent 500+ year old vampire--again: these vampires LET Louis get his licks in, cuz they KNOW it's DESERVED! 😤)

LOUIS STAYS KEEPING ALL THE DEEDS! 😂 He will kick ANYONE out: Lestat, Antoinette, Armand--NO ONE IS SAFE. 🤣

I LOVE that Lou knows about the Talamasca having a hand in his book being published--it'll make his reaction to Raglan more interesting when he starts snatching bodies.

I LOVE that Louis and Daniel can be sassy vampire bros together. (We NEED to see how Armand turned Daniel, omg, and why he ditched him.)

*finger snaps*

Love the refurbished new digs!

Audiobooks, PLEASE, AMC! Put these talented actors to work, I keep saying this--the merch will sell itself!

Paul's painting! <3

(Armand's stupid magnolia tree is gone, good riddance)

He got his baby's dress preserved!

Louis CONSTANTLY shushing people AGAIN!

"You know where I live," Louis said COME AT ME BRUH. I've killed over a DOZEN of y'all goofy AF "sun-challenged" clowns when I was half starved and raving--imagine what I can do darn near a century later! 🔥

WOOF WOOF!

INCREDIBLE. 👏

You were ROBBED of your Emmys, Jacob!

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hi and thanks so much for answering my last ask, don't mean to spam! but i have some follow up questions based on your answer, so is the audience generally meant to operate like the majority of season 1 and 2 was false?

What i mean is if none of the most "incriminating" for a lack of a better word scenes never get revisited, drop scene, train scene, murder scene tower scene, trial, even antoinette with the finger thing, which I think unlikely surely we will receive some additional information for maybe a couple of these, but if we don't, the audience should still not take the events of season 1 and 2 at full face value? Doesn't that sort of invalidate the story itself? If it can all be questioned and disputed the impact for the watcher who was invested time and feelings for two seasons sort of becomes less? If that makes sense ?

And it would sort of be a cop out, for me personally I think either the series has taken a huge gamble taking 6 years to show the audience the complete story and it must land to pay off or it may remain with answers left unanswered and plot holes up to questioning in perpetuity and up to everyone's interpretation for better (or if you go on Twitter 😬) for worse?

Sorry for talking your ear off about this, promise I won't bother you anymore with this, thanks for reading 😊 😀!

Oh, bother away :)

The thing is... this is how the books are as well.

And so I do NOT see this as a "cop out", I do NOT see it as something out of the... let's say ordinary.

The Vampire Chronicles are a series of books written by vampires. Most of them by Lestat, some by Louis, Armand, Marius, and others.

They are their stories.

These stories are written for an effect, for a reason. Louis' told his to Daniel after Claudia's death, still angry and yet still numb, mourning. Lestat wrote his in an answer to Louis'. Queen of the Damned is a collection of stories of various characters but written down by Lestat. And so on.

This format includes in and by itself and per default a point of view. And an intention.

Of course these characters hide some of the truth within the narrative. Of course Armand tries to soften the blow of what he did with Claudia in his own recount of the tale. For example. Of course of course of course :)

The show does the same, in its own way.

They have Louis tell the story to Daniel, and he does it again, for a reason. Daniel has been called Louis' lifeline for the second interview, meaning Louis tried to break himself free with it. Because Louis knew deep down that some things were not true. But Louis also presents Lestat as a monster because he's angry.

I said it before, I expect the end of 1x05 to be revisited, quite often, actually, and expanded with more context. Not "just" the drop, but the dragging and spoken parts as well - and the aftermath. None of that fits with what we saw in the revisit after all, and Sam's words and the "possessed" comment in 1x06 rang all the bells in my head wrt Amel.

The train scene cannot have happened as shown, they don't need to revisit that, they gave us all the clues already.

The hotel scene and Antoinette's finger cannot have happened as shown either, there, too, the clues are all there.

Murder night... well, we have the not-fitting diary already as a clue - the only other person who can give account of that - and, more importantly maybe, DOES so in his own book - will have his say in season 3. There I do expect a revisit, yes. Maybe only a short one. But I BET Lestat has a thing to say about that.

The trial will be revisited in some kind of way as well - Sam already mentioned that he has the "original" of that scene/script, and there was an extra back then, who mentioned they filmed more than made it into the season. There, too, I expect Lestat, the only other participant still living after all, to have a word to say about it. Again, which he also does in his book.

IWTV seasons one and two... are a tale. An influenced tale.

The discrepancies are riddled through it everywhere - all the dates are off(!), the stab wounds in Lestat's back in 1x01 disappear, Lestat cannot have talked to Louis' mind directly in 1x02, and I seriously doubt that he would have let his brand new fledgling run out into the sun. Seriously doubt it.

And so on.

They put clues in - like the hair styles, imho.

So no, you can not, in fact, take the story at face value.

But... forgive me, but that is the nature of a tale, isn't it?! Louis urges Daniel in 1x01: "Let the tale seduce you." He spins a tale, with what he knows and wants to tell. Louis does not lie per intention, not really, though he, too, lies ((Jacob literally says “not everything Louis says is a lie“ in this video)) ... but more to himself - and to shield Claudia... and to downplay his part in it. He literally says that in episode 2x07, that he "played down his role in it" (Claudia's turning)... he shields himself from the ugly truth and regret and pain, and that is... all too understandable I think.

This is not a "normal show", where you can take what you see as the absolute truth. For one - what exactly did we see? Louis' imagined scenes? Or Daniel's?? Probably Louis', but you get what I mean, right? Because it was a mix of memories and edited tale, not a neutral retelling! We do NOT have a neutral camera! We have a tale within a tale, and "supposedly" only the reunion scene had a neutral camera, according to Rolin!

For ME that is part of the attraction - and frustration :) - of the show.

Because I get what you mean, but it is a HUGE puzzle also, and we will never get a "this was the truth" mock-up.

All we will get are point of views and more tales, documentaries, and, if we're lucky, neutral cameras in the "present time". And hints.

Lots and lots of hints.

And, tbh, this is very much in line with the books, to come back to the beginning.

Lestat, in his book, literally says it to the "reader": "Read between the lines."

You have to.

You have to look at what's unsaid, and what does not fit. You have to note what is out of place, or what has reasons that character does not want to talk about. This holds for all of the chronicles.

And this plays into this vexing, ingenious and frustrating show :)

I ... feel quite confident though promising that the eventual rewatch value will probably be immense. :)))

Because if they continue like this????

Show of the fucking decade.

[pynkhues]

Speaking of Louis, Lestat and masculinity, I think a point that people always ignore is that Louis' masculinity is important to him and he's attached to gender roles/preconceptions far more than Lestat/the way Lestat is not. I think it's communicated in the show pretty well. It's why he feels comfortable in the role of the successful businessman to Lestat's supporting spouse, but not when the power dynamic is flipped, and why Lestat feels comfortable to be the supporting spouse as well. Your recent post reminded me of the "Come to me" lyrics, and I think Lestat placing himself in the feminine role of Mélisande is another example of that. Plus the Marie Antoinette dress (note Louis being kind of uncomfortable with the camp of it all lol).

I totally agree, anon. I think the show's pretty deliberate with the fact that Louis' at his most comfortable in his relationships with both Lestat and Armand when he's acting as the businessman / breadwinner and they're acting as the supportive spouse. I mention it in the post I think you're replying to, but Lestat playing host at The Azaelia and helping to manage the staff - presumably without being paid - very much plays into that sort of dynamic, and it's one Louis seems to be repeating with Armand in Dubai given Armand's helping to effectively administrate the sales of Louis' art investments. It's a form of unpaid domestic labour which in a loving relationship, can be completely fine, but does often come with (perceived or real) connotations of roles and a certain power dynamic.

A huge part of that I think is tied to Louis' sense of masculinity and the role he wants to take in his relationships, but I also think it comes from a genuine place of wanting to be the provider, which has likely been borne out of the role he took with his mother and siblings as a young man. I talk about that more here, but I do think he needs to feel like he can look after those he cares about, and I actually do think it comes from a pure place even though it can be and is often corrupted by the fact that he's capable of real cruelty and vindictiveness when he feels scorned (i.e. he wants to provide for Grace because he loves her, and he buys her that holiday for her honeymoon, and he wants her to have the house to raise her family in, but when she disowns him, he doubles down on that out of spite not because he's letting her go and moving on, but because he's holding her to it. He knows she and Levi could never afford it without him, and he really rubs that in her face at their mother's wake. She'll always be living in his house, and that once meant something pure and good and loving, albeit paternalistic, and now it fundamentally does not).

I didn't really go into it in that last post, but I also think Louis being a voracious reader is something that gets misread a bit sometimes. Like these days, it can feel like being well-read is more common with women, particularly in online spaces, but I absolutely see the connotations on the show of it being partially a performance of class and masculinity. That's not to say I don't think he genuinely loves reading - I really think he does, and I love that about him - but this is the 1910s through 1930s when hypermasculinity and wealth was very much tied to being well-read, and a lot of contemporary authors from William Faulkner to Ernest Hemingway to Joseph Conrad, were both depicting and exploring manhood in ways that were pretty formative for a generation of men.

On top of that, reading was a symbol of class because the only people who had the time or capacity to do it were people who were both educated and had money. Louis sitting on a park bench in a three piece suit reading Charles Darwin of all people is absolutely a show of class and masculinity, and the fact that it dovetails into a conversation about diet, again, is a broadcast of wealth and status. Sure, we're talking about eating people, but if you're looking at it as a metaphor, it's symbolic of Louis having' choices about what he eats when, which is inherently about having the means and status to do so.

Plus I feel it's pretty important context for Louis and Lestat's bickering in 1.05 when Louis' reading Madame Bovary - Lestat calls Louis a snob, and Louis goes in by basically calling Lestat shallow and uncultured, which is a) very funny to me, personally, I love it when they're mean to each other, haha, but also b) I think very much evident of Louis' feelings of masculinity, particularly given it happens directly after he cites Claudia calling him the unhappy housewife. Again, Louis' rejecting that role - the house is a mess (so they've either fired their staff, or they've quit), Louis' not going to do it and neither is Lestat, and Louis' sprawled on the couch reading from his husband's library and dragging him for being too frivolous to read them.

Again, I think Louis genuinely loves reading, but I also do think for him it's fundamentally a part of his identity as a Cultured, Intellectual Man. It's why he doesn't take to the campiness of the Theatres des Vampires, or as you said, get involved in lestat's Mardi Gras performance (I'm always sooo fascinated by the fact that we don't get a reaction shot of Louis to that sequence at all - again! It feels loaded!) I think his sense of masculinity is, well, pretty traditionally masculine, and I think it's pretty vital to his self-image.

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

Season 1 episode 6 [Like Angels Put In Hell By God] - part 2/2

- [Louis] "It was an awkward time, but I loved Claudia with all my heart, and I loved Lestat with a wounded one." - better a broken heart than no heart at all, as my Doctor would say.

- Hey, looook, estranged Father and estranged Daughter finally agreeing on something! All for the sake of Daddy, yeah, but still.

- Okay, but if Antoinette is dead, that means no Antoine during Prince Lestat… Unless Lestat is lying again. Which would make things Awkward if they do adapt Prince Lestat and follow that plotline.

- Love Louis playing mediator between his husband and his daughter. Honestly seeing myself trying to mediate between my violently divorced parents and my siblings who have each chosen their side. Fun times all around.

- Love that they sleep in the same coffin, though. Healing!!

- Aaaaw, a Nicki mention! Love Claudia's proxy jealousy, all for the game and the hatred.

[Lestat] "Nicki passed on after he and I parted ways. Took me a century to try again." - you know what, I am now firmly in support of the timeline change. Love the fact that it took a century for Lestat to love again, instead of a decade like in the book. That's my kind of star-crossed doomed romance jam.

- Ah, yep, there it is, not very dead Antoinette. Good job, Lestat. That's definitely not going to come back and bite you in the neck. "There's no place for me other than New Orleans." - 'Stat, chéri, explain to me how you think this is all going to work out in your mind.

- [Louis] "What difference would it make?" - resignation is not a good look on you, Lou baby.

- [Louis] "The numbness remained, hardened somehow into a dissociative shell, a vessel of acceptance, tortured rationalisation." - and here comes the depression with the steel chair…

- Claudia my queen, you deserve so much better.

- [Louis] "Hey sis! You don't need me. You think you do, but you don't. You're smarter now. You see trouble coming a mile away." - excuse me while I sob my heart out. Yes I know how it goes, but please give me that one moment of hope and love before turning it back to hatred and despair.

- [Louis] "But it was 1939, and the only Negro allowed in first class was the porter, and the Negro passenger rode the rear. The Negro vampire made do with what was left, which was fine with her." - oh, hello social commentary. We haven't had much of that in the past couple of episodes. Which is a shame, the 30s are such a rich and ripe decade… But I guess vampire emotional drama takes precedence over sociology.

- [Louis] "'This is the part of my story, back in San Francisco, where you said, and I paraphrase, 'Give it to me. Make me a vampire now'.' [Daniel] 'In the eyes of a 20-year-old, you were wasting the gift.' [Louis] 'You're in your 20s, Rashid. What do you think?'"

More like 520s, but potatoes, tomatoes, I guess. Their little roleplay continues to entertain me when things become too heavy.

Also I just love the serenity of this scene. The sun shining through one window, the others veiled, and the muezzin's call in the background, that's the afternoon prayer, I think, given the slant of the sun rays , the last one before night. It's a such a perfect moment. And Daniel's feeling his meds kicking up, he's starting to go under, but still bitchy and sassy.

- [Daniel] "'And divorce. And die. Save it for the rent boy.' [Rashid/Armand] 'May I be excused, Mr du Lac?'" - I wonder what made Armand react like that; to be called a rent boy, or to be reminded of Daniel's fragility and the fact that he keeps rejecting the gift, maybe in an echo of their affair in the 70s and 80s? I will die on this hill, Devil's Minion did take place between the San Fran and the Dubai interviews, and Armand ran away because he got scared of losing Daniel and both didn't want to go through the giving of the gift. But anyway, look at his face there, he's gutted. In that very subtle Armand way.

- [Louis] "If I was to join Dante's wood of the Self-Murdered, it would be another night." - it's killing me that I have to say this, but Lou sweetie, maybe put down the books for a moment and seek some help. (Me at myself: oh, like you're doing, maybe? Shush, we're talking about Louis, not me)

- [Lestat] "Germany's invaded Poland"- and history inviting herself back in the narrative through the big door.

[Louis] "'Since when do you care about humanity?' [Lestat] 'Well, I don't. But to think our sister, impulsive tot that she is, was on her way to holiday in Europe. I'm so glad she decided the better of it.'"

Sometimes this show reminds you with a big slap to the face that one of its main genre is indeed horror, including psychological horror. Ooof, that shrill music as the camera pans to the rest of the living room and Claudia sitting there panicked and then Louis's terrified face… Chilling. Oh, and Lestat making his way in the train, some more horror for us. Fantastic. I love it so much. And the music here…

- You know what is one of the worst part? Lestat is not wrong. Claudia leaving would lead to Louis walking into the sun, and Lestat absolutely cannot have that.

- And here begins the murder planning… And hello, social commentary. The fact that Claudia's argument is that she and Louis are Lestat's "slaves", given their race and history… Oh, this is going deep. Very, very deep. Claudia's playing three dimensional chess while Lestat is still parading around.

- The way she corners him in that chess game. While she's having an absolutely mind blowing mental conversation with Louis… Brilliant. Chilling. Claudia my queen you deserve everything good in the universe and your parents don't deserve you at all. And Lestat losing his mind as she refuses to finish the game, because now he's finally understanding that he's about to lose it all…

- [Louis] "We were going to kill Lestat. We were going to kill Lestat." - love how Louis repeats that, as if it's the first time he's saying it out loud for what it is.

- Oooh, hello and welcome to the 70s! Just the music choice has me vibrating out of my skin.

Louis's hairdo in '73 is glorious. And also his game at picking up boys.

[Louis] "I have an accent?", says the King of languages and accents.

[Louis] "I have what you're looking for. High quality. Befitting a man of my tastes." - the fact that he could equally be talking about drugs, sex or a story… Lou babe, you've become dangerous.

[Daniel] "'Are you a narc?' [Louis] 'I'm a vampire.' [Daniel] 'I want to interview you.'"

And thus came into being the grand vampire revolution. At least in the books. Pretty sure if Louis had known what he was setting in motion with his picking up a reporter boy in a gay bar in San Fran, he'd have run all the way over to South America instead of going to that room in Divisadero.

- Man, Danny took one look at that gorgeous black guy saying he's a vampire and said "I wanna tap that in every way possible".

Oh hello there Rashid. Lmao. Love the fact that Armand still wears his brown contacts in Daniel's dream memory, because memory is a monster and Daniel doesn't even know what he's remembering.

- Sam Reid's voice is exquisite, I cannot wait to see what Daniel Hart is going to do with Rockstar Lestat…

episode 1 | episode 2 | episode 3 | episode 4 | episode 5 | part 1 | episode 7