#the vampire companion

[sizeofyoursoul]

Anne Rice's Inspiration for Armand

In The Vampire Companion by Katherine Ramsland, Anne Rice names two different inspirations for Armand from two different movies. They're both a bit obscure, so I wanted to pull together some info about them:

"If there was an inspiration for Armand, it might be in a movie called The Tales of Hoffman. I saw that in my childhood, and there was a companion to Hoffman who had beautiful red hair and was very angelic. The character was played by a woman, but as a child, I don't remember realizing that it was a woman. I remember the character as a transcendent person, and I thought it was Hoffman's guardian angel. Movies like that had a stunning influence on me. They were starbursts in a childhood like mine."

The Tales of Hoffman is a 1951 film by acclaimed filmmaking duo Powell and Pressburger (who you are most likely to know from their film The Red Shoes) and is an adaptation of the 1881 opera of the same name. I believe the character she is referring to is Nicklausse, played by Pamela Brown in the film.

The movie is available for free with ads on Plex. The movie was also recently featured in a documentary called Made in England about the directors (which is very good!)

"The 1973 miniseries, 'Frankenstein: The True Story,' was also a seminal influence. I was inspired by the monster and Dr. Frankenstein going to the opera together. If there was any romantic, swooning influence for Armand, it probably came from that piece, from its ambience. I remember when I was writing about Armand, I kept seeing that image."

Frankenstein: The True Story is a British made for TV film that aired on NBC in 1973, starring Leonard Whiting as Victor Frankenstien and Michael Sarrazin as the Creature. It actually aired on November 30th and December 1st, 1973, which would have either been at the exact time or only a few days before she started the first draft of Interview with the Vampire (Per Prism of the Night).

The scene she is referring to is about an hour into the movie, and my assumption is that she is pulling from the Opera scene and the scenes surrounding it. I assume specifically she is referring to Victor in this version as the inspiration for Armand, with the way he is teaching the Creature being the inspiration for the tone of his and Louis's scenes in IWTV, and also somewhat for his physical description.

The full movie is currently available for free on Youtube.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hi! I'm doing a bit of research, and I wonder if you remember Anne ever saying anything about why she decided to make Lestat a rockstar? I found out about her inspirations and how she viewed rock musicians as sort of outsiders akin to vampires. But maybe there's more to that? Thank you in advance <3

Oh, I'm sorry, apart from the "outsiders" quote (which is from the Vampire Companion I believe) I do not know, unfortunately.

I'm tagging @virginiaisforvampires and @kaelio into this, maybe they have more insight here, or maybe Tulane gave some infos wrt this.

The early notes of TVL do not mention the rockstar arc at all, nor is the opening in any way comparable to what TVL later became.

Googling I also found this post by @zkaus who pointed out that Anne had envisioned Jon Bon Jovi there... who knows, maybe the idea came while listening to his music :)

[nightcolorz]

this passage from the vampire companion is making me loose it

The use of the word betrays gives me the mental image of Akasha like, “Lestat u r my specialist boy 🥺💕 im killing all men except u bb bcus ily and ur so special 😍 and sweet. My lil prince boy, my lil angel”

(Five minutes later)

EVERYONE LOOK AT HOW VIOLENT AND BRUTISH THIS STUPID IDIOT MAN IS (gestures to Lestat who’s standing there with his pecs out like ☹️) LOOK AT HIS OAFISH EXPRESSION AND UNUSUALLY BRICK JAWLINE. LOOK UPON HIM AND SHUDDER! THIS IS WHY WE MUST BE RID OF MEN. FEMALES REVOLT!!!

[faerywhimsy]

For anyone (like me) who is an avid fic writer and wants a selection of pre-drawn maps—complete with Anne's annotations—in order to make sense of place?

Behold!

I bring to you a PSA taken from the back of The Vampire Companion and shows us San Francisco when the 1973 interview took place, Paris in the time of TVL, as well as the Gathering of Immortals occurring in QotD.

(There are several other maps, but those don't contain these kinds of annotations)

That last one, and it's key in the lower left corner? I would have killed for one of these back in the day (just like I'd kill today for one portraying the Gathering of the Elders in Prince Lestat, if I'm being honest).

[iwt-v]

Just wanted to let people know about this awesome book. It covers the original 5 of Rice's Vampire Chronicles with gothic, encyclopedia-like entires and has been an excellent source for me for the last 20 years. You can still get it on Amazon, I believe. I think it would be amazing whether or not you've read the books.

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

you can wife your boy blorbo up all you please, but chances are he will never be "called a nymphomanic in the official companion to the original book series" levels of female hysteria.

[swagphilosopherdragon]

You ever look for something really hard, stop looking, and then it pops up right in front of your face?

[brawlingdiscontent]

The queen of reading bitchily:

(Reading is what? Fundamental)

[taygra5shaon]

he taste like shit. 🩸

Fix-it AU

one comment made me think what would happen if Astarion brought my Durge to Cazaldor before the main story.

[jenofthefar]

Some Astarion studies cause look at that pretty face 🥰

[nalyra-dreaming]

Ohhh! I didn’t know there were drafts of the books out there with slight differences! I’m now obviously desperate to know what was different with Armand in QotD, if you don’t mind sharing

:) Just dug it out.

Lasher: The incubus spirit in The Witching Hour and Lasher. Originally, Rice had planned to use the character of Lasher in QD. He was going to come to Armand and together they were going to solve the problem of stopping Akasha's evil plan. [...]

There is also a post here on it:

Rolin has stated they have read and have access to all kinds of sources, and a lot in the show hints at other "versions" or "drafts" of Anne's work, as well as the unpublished ones at Tulane, as said.

For the show I could easily see them dig into this - maybe even use it for crossover with Mayfair Witches, depending.

I mean, it could be extremely interesting, to bring the original idea in, because anyone who has read QotD knows that the finale... is a bit anticlimactic, which might not work so well for a TV show.

But there's just a whole lot of possibilities with that original thought, especially since Maharet and Mekare are also witches (and Amel the spirit that drives Akasha).

As a final note - I can only recommend going through the "Vampire Companion"... there's a lot of comments on first drafts and what those contained, what was actually meant with Louis' "feminine mind" and so on. It's extremely interesting. (Unfortunately it only goes up to Memnoch iirc.)

[nightcolorz]

I now am the proud owner of The Vampire Companion (spent my hard earned money on this) 3 pages in and I’m already loosing my shit

WHY IS KATHERINE BODYING LOUIS LMFAO

[faerywhimsy]

I f-ing love this fandom. I randomly mention it might be my birthday tomorrow, like, a fortnight ago? So, if she needs to rehome her spare Hook DVD, she should totally do so. And @saintrayne doesn't only do that.

Oh no.

She looks at her freaking books and goes, "I have a spare copy of this OUT OF PRINT BOOK, I'll just send that along as a birthday surprise."

(If it looks like I was in tears shortly before taking this photo, IT'S BECAUSE I WAS)

[tasteofgrave]

interview with the vampire (2022) // emily brontë, wuthering heights

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

I kind of want to get/read the Vampire Companion specifically for the part where they apparently call Armand a nymphomaniac. like I want to see it in print.

[murchellie]

⁺⋆♱❤︎♱⋆⁺ | Astarion Ancunín | ⁺⋆♱❤︎♱⋆⁺

So my post with Gale aesthetic got 1.5k notes hello?? thank you :33

Here, have some Astarion vibes guys. Idk, if this one also get many notes maybe I will made another one with one of the companions ;)

Astarion | Gale | Wyll | Halsin

Lae'zel | Shadowheart | Minthara | Karlach

──── ⋆⋅ ♰ ⋅⋆ ────

Commissions: Open