#vivian gandillon

[mistikfir]

Blood and Chocolate (2006)

[thosearefuckingonions]

Wait so what happens when Vivian and the other female werewolves have their period?

[vntagetee]

@platiinums asked:  "for being someone you hate, i'm sure on your mind a lot."﹙ vivian / gabriel ﹚

“acknowledging  your  presence  and  you  being  on  my  mind  are  two  very  different  things,  gabriel.”  vivian  sighed,  exasperated by the man's persistence.  she  didn’t  know  what  he  wanted  from  her  –  well,  that  wasn’t  true.  it  was  obvious  what  he  wanted.  she  just  had  no  interest  in  giving  it  to  him. 

[vntagetee]

“A  MAID?”  VIVIAN  questioned  and  not  bitterly.  she  assumed  that  he  would  want  something  in  return.  everyone  did.  “i  don’t  have  any  experience  cleaning  houses  as  large  as  yours.  what  would  it  entail  exactly?”

Walter pressed his lips together and leaned back on his chair, his eyes not leaving her as he waited on a reply. Of course, he wasn't surprised when she couldn't come up with anything. "You will offer your servitude to me. You will be my personal maid and in return you get to stay under my protector where no wolves will ever find you."

[yarnreader]

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause (2/1/21)

Sixteen-year-old, Vivan Gandillon, is beautiful and strong and has all the young wolves chasing after her tail. But she isn't interested in any of them. She isn't into getting into any mischief like they are and feels like an outsider among her own kind. Then along comes Aiden, a human boy who catches Vivian's eye. She falls hard for him and longs to share her deepest, darkest secret with him. But after the loss of her father, Vivian is hesitant to get close to anyone. This is a young adult fantasy romance novel. I re-read my own copy, My CAWPLIE rating for this book is 6.43. My Goodreads rating is 3 stars. Sometimes you just need a nice and fluffy book to help get you through a small reading slump. It also helped a lot that this was a re-read for me. I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. I do have to say this book didn't age that well. The macho man vibe that all the werewolf guys put off was a bit annoying at times. The main character did point out the times were they were obnoxious, so it was nice that it was acknowledged at least. I did enjoy the scenes where the characters were in their werewolf forms. I tend to enjoy things to do with magical creatures a lot more than normal world scenes. Overall it's an ok book. It's nice to have a book that just scratches the easy read itch from time to time.

[tragicdeadgirl]

books i’ve read → blood and chocolate by annette curtis klause

“He was raw and sharp and rich and throbbing with life. He was sweet blood after a long hunt. How could she have mistaken Aiden's kisses for this? They had been delicious and smooth like the brief comfort of chocolate, but they had never been enough.” 

[bloodandchocolatefans]

Vivian’s full name is Vivian Gandillon - the writer created Vivian's character as a descendant of the medieval Gandillon family who, in the late 16th-century France, were accused and executed for being werewolves. The term “loup-garou” is used several times in the movie, meaning werewolf in French.

This is a painting of Henri Boguet, the French judge who recorded the Gandillons’ story and took part in their trial.

https://bizarreandgrotesque.com/2016/10/30/the-gandillon-werewolf-family/

[moontched]

                        SOMETHING  UNHOLY  |  vivian  gandillon

[mistikfir]

Blood and Chocolate (2007)

[indigenousandangry]

I’m reading Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause for the first time since I was in Jr. High. I’m almost finished with it. Considering writing a review since reading it as an adult was a very different experience from reading it as a teenager.

[ashesrise]

-- a man who's pure of heart and says his prayers by night                             may still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright .

                                                                               [     endless edits of vivian gandillon ( 1 / ∞ )                                                                         only mutuals may reblog, please.     ]                  

[leonesvigiliae]

💋 Kisses for Vivian from Derek! ( mun’s choice )

Hands shake as she paced back and forth. She hated being the focus of the pack, she hated having all the attention on her. Yeah, she was born for this -- born to be something special for the pack but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. No, she would be perfectly happy living her life out of the prying eyes of the rest of them, but that just wasn't in the cards for her. Yeah, she knew that she had been stuck as a wolf for..phew far too long and she had only just reclaimed her human form.

Attention was soley on her hands that she had no idea that Derek had stepped in front of her and she ran headlong right into him and she stumbled just slightly when she realized he was an immovable obstacle and she looked up at him before his hands cupped her cheeks. Pale green eyes watched his face intently as she knew his lips moved with speech but she couldn't make out the words over the sound of her own heartbeat. But soon his lips fell on her own and that seemed to calm the storm that roiled inside of her and she stopped a moment and all but melted into him, her hands held loosely onto his forearms as she returned the kiss in kind.

"Hi. Yes, thank you. I'm here -- " she flustered and raised up on her toes so she could rest her forehead to his.

@ofdamages​

[blasphaemy-a]

AESTHETIC  MOODBOARD  FEARTURING  @ashesrise   .  VIVIAN  GANDILLON  &.  MATTHEW  GOLDS  .

[thediamondolls]

this list is ever changing, check back for updates!

TV Muses:

Heidi Barrie / Buffy the Vampire Slayer ( fc: shelley hennig )

Jo Harvelle / Supernatural ( fc: alona tal )

Ruby ( v. 1.0 ) / Supernatural ( fc: katie cassidy )

Saxa /  Spartacus ( fc: ellen hollman )

Santanico Pandemonium / From Dusk til Dawn ( fc: eiza gonzalez )

Vanessa Styles / From Dusk til Dawn ( fc: adrianne palicki )

Serena van der Woodsen / OG Gossip Girl ( fc: blake lively )

OC's:

Aoife / Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter ( fc: katherine mcnamara )

Ebony Sparda / Devil May Cry ( fc: emeraude toubia )

Eirny / X-Men ( fc: danielle rose russell )

Ekaterina Romanov / John Wick ( fc: megan fox )

Freki / Werewolf lore ( fc: katherine winnick )

Keres Angelos / AHS Coven ( fc: ryan ashley malarkey )

Laura Lawrence / Cobra Kai ( fc: jeanine mason )

Lilith / Biblical / Mythology Based ( fc: samantha robinson )

Mariella Salvatore / The Vampire Diaries / The Originals ( fc: giulia de lellis ) 

Remini : x5-404 / Dark Angel ( fc: lindsay morgan )

Video Games:

Faith Seen / Far Cry 5 ( fc: anya taylor joy )

Jill Valentine / Resident Evil ( fc: tbd )

Lilith the Siren / Borderlands ( fc: tbd )

Susie Jordan aka The Legion / Dead by Daylight ( fc: lights poxleitner )

Movies:

Amber Sweet / Repo! the genetic opera ( fc: ryan ashley malarkey )

Marnie Wallace / Repo! the genetic opera ( fc: emily blunt )

Delta / Jurassic World ( fc: adrianne palicki )

Fox Mask / You’re Next ( fc: jon bernthal )

Ginger Fitzgerald / Ginger Snaps ( fc: katherine isabel )

Holly Garling / PET ( fc: ksenia solo )

Jennifer Check / Jennifer’s Body ( fc: megan fox )

Kirby Reed / Scream 4 ( fc: hayden pantierre )

Tattoo / Moulin Rouge! ( fc: ryan ashley malarkey )

Tracy Bingham / All Cheerleaders Die ( fc: natalie alyn lind )

Comics:

America Chavez / Marvel ( fc: xochitl gomez )

Bobbi Morse / Marvel ( fc: blake lively )

Christine Palmer / Marvel ( fc: rachel mcadams )

Clint Barton / Marvel ( fc: aaron paul )

Dinah Lance / DC ( fc: katherine winnick )

Jessica Jones / Marvel ( fc: krystin ritter )

Natasha Romanov / Marvel ( fc: ana de armas )

Oliver Queen / DC ( fc: charlie hunnam )

Sersi / Marvel ( fc: gemma chan )

Tandy Bowen / Marvel ( fc: olivia holt )

Zatanna Zatara / DC ( fc: emeraude toubia )

Literature:

Cherry / Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter ( fc: brianne howey )

Corky Corcoran / Fear Street Cheerleaders ( fc: sabrina carpenter )

Itzpapalotl / Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter ( fc: becky g )

Jeyne Westerling / ASOIAF ( fc: lily james )

Rafael Espinoza / Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter ( fc: clayton cardenas )

Raina Wallis / Anita Blake: vampire hunter

Ridley Duchannes  / Caster Chronicles aka Beautiful Creatures ( fc: dove cameron )

Rosalie Hale / Twilight ( fc: sydney sweeney / anti smeyer )

Rosha Nelson / Fear Street: The Perfect Date ( fc: olivia holt )

Shiera Seastar / ASOIAF ( fc: tbh )

Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Mysteries aka True Blood ( fc: tbd )

Stormy Llewellyn / Odd Thomas ( fc: danielle campbell )

Vivian Gandillon / Blood and Chocolate ( fc: virginia gardner )

Request:

Churchill Creed / Pet Semetary ( fc: zane holtz )

Eventide Grimhilde / Grimm / descendants multi-fandom ( fc: sofia carson )

Fawkes / Harry Potter ( fc: ana de armas )

Hedwig / Harry Potter ( fc: diana agron )

Jane Foster / Marvel ( fc:  alicia vikander ) 

Sansa Stark / ASOIAF ( fc: sophie turner )

[moontched]

vivian gandillon tags.

(   vivian gandillon   )   /   *   isms   . (   vivian gandillon    )   /   *   visage   . (   vivian gandillon    )   /   *   interactions   . (   vivian gandillon    )   /   *   headcanons   . (   vivian gandillon    )   /   *   aesthetics   . (   vivian gandillon    )   /   *   closed starter   . (   vivian gandillon    )   /   *   answered ask   . (   vivian gandillon    )   /   *   desires   .

[ihavethoughtsplural]

Blood and Chocolate: An Adaptation in Name Only

Previously: Section 0 - Introduction

Section 1 – The Book

Preface: The 1997 novel Blood and Chocolate is DENSE.  The paperback only spans 264 pages, but the story follows the coming of age of a dynamic and flawed female protagonist, encompasses ancient werewolf legends and laws, goes in depth into lycanthropic politics, and also features a love triangle, a teenage soap opera, a forbidden romance, and a goddamned murder mystery.

Summary: Vivian Gandillon is a 15-year-old werewolf.  A year after her father was killed in the fire that destroyed their home, Vivian is lost and grieving while her leaderless pack falls apart in the Maryland suburbs that they fled to.  Aiden, a tall, gentle human classmate attracts her attention and presents Vivian an escape from the tangled, animalistic world of werewolves.  Keeping her lycanthropy secret, Vivian begins to date Aiden, defying the laws of her people.   Vivian is pressured to break things off by her mother, her five delinquent age-mates, and the would-be leader, Gabriel. Gabriel, a 24 year-old welder, is attractive, intimidating and the object of intense romantic competition.  He, more than any other, tries to convince Vivian that her dalliance with a human is dangerous, eventually revealing that he speaks from painful personal experience. The story twists and turns, tearing Vivian and Aiden apart while pulling Vivian and Gabriel together.  In the end, through many trials, Vivian discovers that she can’t escape either her human or her animal nature, and must embrace both.  

Themes: Vivian’s central character arc finds her struggling with what she wants as opposed to what she needs.  At the opening of the novel, Vivian wants to escape the violent chaos of her pack, with its painful history and uncertain future. She finds that escape in Aiden, with his Beaver Cleaver family, his lovably quirky friends, and his sweetness and simplicity.   However, when the time comes to reveal the hidden aspects of her identity, Aiden can’t handle it.  Despite his supernatural curiosity, he cannot accept the supernatural when it presents itself to him.  His rejection sends Vivian into a tailspin of self-destruction that only ends when she accepts the love that Gabriel is offering, a love that honors all of what she is.  To ultimately find happiness, Vivian had to give up what she wanted and embrace what she needed. In addition to this, there is also a great deal of time in the novel spent contrasting the human and the animal sides of Vivian’s nature.  Her two suitors Aiden and Gabriel represent, respectively, the human and the animal. Scenes of Vivian socializing with Aiden and his human friends are juxtaposed with scenes of Vivian’s werewolf pack brutally vying for dominance.  The very title of the book is a reference to this dichotomy, Blood – representing Vivian’s animal desires, and Chocolate – representing Vivian’s human longings.   Throughout the novel, Vivian swings between these two extremes, at one point drinking herself into a heartbroken stupor over Aiden, then blacking out and waking up in her bed next to a severed hand. She tries, in her romance with Aiden, to balance her human and animal sides, but she only achieves that balance with Gabriel, a partner who also exists in the grey area between man and beast.

Highs: These are the aspects of the novel have captivated my imagination and kept this book in my collection for so long.

o   Werewolf Society:  It’s a damn shame that Klause hasn’t written more stories within this framework, because it is absolutely ripe for exploration and development.  The enormous potential here is one of the primary reasons why this book has held my fascination for so long and why I have written so much (published and unpublished) fanfiction for it.

o   Flawed Characters: No one who’s read the book will tell you that Vivian is perfect or even likeable 100% of the time, but it fits with her characterization as a grieving, lost teenager and serves to make her all the more like an actual person.  Most of the characters are like that, with their good qualities balanced or sometimes overwhelmed by their less savory sides.  It makes the fictional world feel richer and more realistic, despite the supernatural elements.

o   Consequences: The characters in this novel make real, awful mistakes, and they face lasting consequences for them.  One of Vivian’s mistakes – maiming Astrid while defending her mother, directly leads to Vivian’s ex, Rafe, getting sucked into Astrid’s revenge plot, leading to Vivian being framed for murder and the eventual executions of both Rafe and Astrid, during which Vivian is accidentally shot by Aiden.  

CONSEQUENCES!   They make the story more believable, more suspenseful, and this novel, with its cast of flawed characters, would not have worked without them.

o   Assertive Female Protagonist: Vivian is refreshingly frank about her desires, which is very noticeable in her courtship with Aiden.  Aiden assumes that he has to advance their physical relationship slowly so as to not frighten or offend Vivian, while Vivian urges him on.  She doesn’t hesitate when going after what she wants, and she’s not ashamed of her sexuality.  It’s a welcome change from the restrictions that western society places on female desire, and I’d like to see more characters like her.

Lows:  Blood and Chocolate is far from perfect, but, in my opinion, there are three glaring flaws in this book, and I would be remiss if I didn’t address them.

o   The Esme Question: The first point is one that, once seen, cannot be unseen. Vivian’s mother, Esme, is one of the women competing for Gabriel’s affections at the beginning of the novel.  It is established that they go on dates (“Saw your mother go into Tooley’s bar with Gabriel last night.” p. 18), but Klause is not explicit about how far their relationship has gone.  This ambiguity leaves open a potentially disturbing possibility:  

It is canonically possible that Gabriel had a sexual relationship with Esme and then moved on to sexually pursue her daughter, Vivian.

Personally, I can reasonably believe that Gabriel and Esme never progressed beyond idle flirting because:

a.       Vivian strikes me as the type of person who would mark her mother’s sexual partners as “off limits”.

b.       Up until just past the Ordeal scene, both Esme and Astrid are still fighting over Gabriel, implying that neither of them had really “won” him.  

c.       The possibility outlined above seems like it would be a bridge too far to be included in a YA novel, especially in the 90′s.  

Your mileage may vary.  I’ve seen reviews of the book whose negative ratings hinge on the fact that Gabriel dated Esme at all, irrespective of whether their relationship was sexual or not.  Honestly?  I can’t blame them.  If the mere existence of this possibility squicks you out, then it’s likely going to sour the ending and ruin the rest of the book for you.

o   The Age Differences: The second point is the least defensible. At the end of the novel, Vivian is 16 and Gabriel is 24.  That minor/adult 8 year age gap constitutes a “yikes” in my part of the world.  Klause skirts this by establishing that werewolf society has some stark differences with human society, namely that a 16 year old female is considered an adult by werewolf law.  This is still a rather uncomfortable detail to be included in an American YA novel, and the older I get, the more uncomfortable it becomes.

In addition to the Vivian/Gabriel age gap, there is the even wider Astrid/Rafe age gap. Rafe is Vivian’s ex and age mate, although there are reasons to assume that he is slightly older than her.  This places him somewhere in a probable 16-18 age range. He is canonically younger than 21, which makes him, according to werewolf law, not yet an adult.  Astrid has a son who is also Vivian’s age, which places Astrid somewhere in her late 30’s to mid 40’s.  In the book, Astrid and Rafe have a sexual relationship.

To be fair to Klause, this is framed in the novel as being toxic and ultimately destructive to both Astrid and Rafe.  Near the end of the story, Rafe finally realizes that Astrid has been taking advantage of him, turning Rafe, in my opinion, into a tragic victim of manipulation.  

Let me leave this segment with a PSA:

If you’re reading this and you’re underage, please don’t enter into a “relationship” with an adult.  The adults in these scenarios in the real world are predators, and they’re preying on your inexperience and naïveté.  They know that you probably won’t recognize relationship red flags and they think they can pressure you into doing unsafe and unhealthy things in the name of “love”. Stay safe, kids!

o   Sexual Harassment:   My third and final low point is one that I have very mixed feelings about.  As a result, this is the longest segment of this post, so strap in. In the novel, many of the interactions between Vivian and male characters are inappropriately sexual.  The most egregious offenders are the Five, Gabriel, and Aiden’s father. The Five, Vivian’s male werewolf peers, are crass, rude and arrogant.  Led by Rafe, they display a lot of entitlement for Vivian’s affections.  The most pointed (and gross) of these displays happens on p.41:

“You’re not Princess Wolf now,” Rafe growled behind her.  “Wait too long and we’ll take what we want.” 

That?  Yeah, that’s a direct rape threat!  Rafe also goes on to grope Vivian at her birthday party.  He’s a peach!   Gabriel’s harassment mostly takes the form of unwanted advances.  It peaks after the Ordeal, the battle royale where Vivian accidentally wins the right to be Gabriel’s mate.  In the aftermath, Gabriel corners Vivian in her kitchen, forces a non-consensual kiss on her and declares his intentions to court her.   Aiden’s father is notable in the contrast he provides.  Vivian only interacts with him once, when Aiden invites her to a family cookout. During this scene, he repeatedly leers at her, makes suggestive comments and on p. 79:

Vivian could hear the innuendo in Mr. Teague’s voice.  It made her skin crawl.

However, if you compare Mr. Teague’s harassment to Gabriel, the Five and others, you’ll find that there is a significant difference in Vivian’s reaction.  Vivian isn’t afraid to bite back at the Five’s harassment – scoring vivid revenge for Rafe’s groping when she injures his genitals.  She tries to do the same to Gabriel when he forces a kiss on her, but he relents on his own.   We see a similar dynamic when Esme snaps at Bucky, another male werewolf, who catcalls her in a bar.  This forms a pattern which suggests that forceful sexuality is a feature of werewolf culture.  Vivian confirms this the first time that she and Aiden kiss on p. 51:

“He was gentle.  She hadn’t expected that.  Kisses to her were a tight clutch, teeth, and tongue.”

And this is where my mixed feelings come in. I don’t condone the harassment that Vivian experiences, but I understand why Klause wrote it.  Any author writing inhuman characters can’t simply tell us that they are inhuman, they have to show it.  The forceful sexuality of the werewolf characters in this book is one way that Klause clearly shows that they are NOT human and serves as a contrast to the human characters.   But where does Aiden’s dad fit into this?  His harassment is milder than the Five’s or Gabriel’s, but it disgusts Vivian in a way that the other harassment didn’t.  Why?  Sexual harassment seems to be a constant feature of her pack life.  This isn’t even the only time that an older man leers at her – on p. 115, in the same scene where Esme gets catcalled:

Some of those male eyes strayed to Vivian, too, and she preened at the thought of being a threat.

That’s a far cry from the skin-crawling disgust she felt with Mr. Teague, but it’s basically the same offense.  What’s different?  We find it in a conversation with him on p. 74:

“I would think a girl like you would go out with someone older.” He winked at Vivian. Like someone your age?  Vivian thought, repelled by the man’s lack of loyalty to his son.

Vivian’s disgust stems from the fact that the man flirting with her is her boyfriend’s father.  She’s shown to welcome sexual attention from other older men, and she has no problems handling more overt harassment, but the paternal disloyalty sickens her. The overt sexual harassment is there, and if it makes it impossible for you to enjoy the book, I don’t blame you.  Your feelings are valid, and I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong.  Personally, I understand the authorial reasoning behind its inclusion, and its utility as a characterization tool, so it doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the story. Your mileage may vary.

Verdict: The 1997 novel Blood and Chocolate is flawed, but fascinating.  It sets multifaceted characters into a tantalizing world of men and monsters, where the line between good and evil is blurred into nonexistence.  It is, despite its problematic elements, my favorite book.

Next: Section 2 - Adaptation Challenges