kissingandsnugglingdeadthings:
Warning; I’m about to wax at length about a
Daniel thing in Prince Lestat.
I’m probably “interrogating the text from the wrong perspective”, but so be it!
😀So I’m poking my way through Prince Lestat again, because I
cannot resist squeezing every last bit of interesting detail out of any of the
Chronicles that has to do with Daniel, and I couldn’t resist taking a good long
look at this particular bit because I was also made to suffer four years of
seminary during my late teens, so any chance to use that knowledge for
something I actually enjoy is occasionally entertaining for this heathen.The line from Prince Lestat I’ve been
pondering the last day or so:Prince Lestat: He
and Daniel had to leave Brazil. This was a safe place no longer. Daniel said he
understood. “Whither thou goest, I go,”
he had said.This is, of course, a partial quote from The
Old Testament which is full is:Ruth 1:16: And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to
return from following after thee: for whither
thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my GodWith the last name Molloy,
it’s obvious that Daniel is of Irish descent, and so it seems to have become a
fairly consistent fan belief over the years (based on the fic and discussions
out there) that Daniel was likely raised in a Catholic environment. Personally,
this quote just cemented that fan-canon thought for me even more, and with that
in mind, it really added a new layer of depth to what Daniel is saying here.I know it’s also been
speculated post Blood And Gold
that Daniel is in a situation he has little or no control over, being left or
taken into Marius’ care. That somehow he’s become a ‘lackey’ or he’d become a low-level
replacement for Those Who Must Be Kept. I know because I was a party of that
fan-camp of thought for quite some time. So believe me, this is a really big 180° for me to be taking.It’s become clear in Prince Lestat that Daniel has
come back to his senses, but this particular line seems to also establish that
Daniel has remained and continues to remain with Marius of his own volition. His reference of The Book of Ruth is a pretty
subtle but clear indication that he’s accepted his companion and wants to
remain at his side. Wherever Marius goes, he’s going, and where Marius chooses
to live, that’s where Daniel will live.It also adds an additional
potential layer of Daniel’s mindset toward Armand. In the Bible, Ruth
chooses to stay with her mother-in-law, Naomi, instead of going home to her
family, hence the famous quote. I can’t help but wonder if Daniel’s also subtly
referencing that even though Armand isn’t dead in the literalist of senses,
their relationship is. That of course also begs the question if he then thinks of Marius in a ‘familiar, paternal kind of way’ but I’m not going there right now. That’ll be for another time.
