#the fandom at large thinking they'd get along has actually genuinely surprised me

[pynkhues]

Gabrielle likes Nicki more??? Oh my god wait what's the tea? Do Louis and Gabrielle not get along? I figured they did bc the fandom at large seems to think Gabrielle and Louis would team up 'against' Lestat i.e. mock him and stuff

The books (at least the ones that I've read [again, I've only read through Memnoch]) never really explore Louis and Gabrielle's relationship in any sort of meaningful way, but I think the fanon that Gabrielle and Louis would team up against Lestat is a bit nuts, honestly. They only connect at all in the books because they love Lestat.

Not only is Lestat the only character Gabrielle ever truly loves (and lives vicariously through in the books), but any grace she shows to other characters (Nicki included), is a product of that. She looks after Nicki after Lestat's turned him because she loves Lestat, and Lestat's crashing out, and her relationship with Armand is disastrous in no small part because she sees him as dangerous to her son.

Gabrielle's priority is, ultimately, herself - she's a selfish character, and personally, I love that about her - but her second priority will always be Lestat, and the idea that she would mock him with Louis is absolutely and entirely fanon. She doesn't talk much, love doesn't come easily to her, but she would and does kill for him, and he is it for her. That's her child, her surrogate self, her partway lover, she's possesive of him, and the idea that insulting him would result in common ground between her and Louis in the show 'verse now that Louis is (rightfully! excitinglly!) remaining a main character, is wild to me.

Which is to say nothing of the reverse! I mean, do you think Louis would get along with Lestat's mother, who denied him an education to the point she refused to teach him to read when she was educated herself? Who did nothing during situations of abuse with his father and brothers, who withheld her own love to ultimately both survive and control him, and, depending on how the show interprets it, potentially enter a sexual relationship with him? I don't think the show's version of Louis is that person at all, and in fact I think if Louis knows any of that, that there's a part of him who'll hate her on sight. (I love Gabrielle as a character, but she's a very complicated character! And if Louis does hate her, which I suspect he will, he'll be right for that).

Gabrielle had a relationship with Nicki when they were all still human - Nicki grew up in the Auvergne with Lestat! - which shapes a significant part of their dynamic. She doesn't have that with Louis, and honestly I think the potential for conflict there is too meaty and exciting for the show to give up, especially given if the show sticks to the books, Louis and Gabrielle are going to be stuck together trying to save Lestat in the QOTD season/s. With my writer's hat on, they're a really (really) organic source of conflict, and I'd be surprised if Rolin and Co didn't lean into that.