In your opinion, who has the most/ least daddy issues in VC?

“Daddy issues” is an unfair term in real life bc it’s a judgment that carries different implications, either that someone is functioning badly bc of a bad relationship with their father, or that they had too good of a relationship with their father and are spoiled; etc.; there is a wide range, but it basically all boils down to the cheap jab: “That person has daddy issues.”

When I see that term used on fictional characters, it’s more about people outright shitposting or having a touch of dark humor (sometimes more than a touch!) because we know these characters are not real people, they’ll never actually hear us insulting them. And what’s intriguing to me about that term used in analysis or in canon about these characters is that sometimes it’s considered a huge fault, something you say to put a character down; but at other times, it’s a badge of honor that a character can function so well even carrying the burden of “daddy issues.” 

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[^ source unknown]

(530): THAT GUY IS NOTHING BUT TROUBLE. HE’S 40% PRETTY HAIR AND 60% DADDY ISSUES.

Loki and Tony Stark are great examples of fictional characters w/ “daddy issues,” bc they both had unhealthy relationships with their fathers and it was a very formative experience for them. They are very layered and intellectually stimulating characters, would they be this way if they’d had the benefit of better relationships with their fathers? Isn’t there a kind of catharsis in watching them struggle and battle through their demons in order to reach their goals? Isn’t there extra reward when we see them succeed despite the emotional burdens they bear? And especially when others taunt them about their “daddy issues” and they are strong in the face of that adversity, too? 

Google gives the definition of “Daddy issues” as:

“a pejorative for a lot of social, psychological or behavioral issues that may OR MAY NOT stem from an unhealthy relationship with one’s father. It’s usually used to marginalize issues women are having, though to be honest men are perfectly capable of having “daddy issues” too.”

I was asked this a few months ago and it’s a delicate subject bc, again, “daddy issues” is a pejorative, and therefore it can belittle/marginalize real people who have ‘social, psychological or behavioral issues that may OR MAY NOT stem from an unhealthy relationship with one’s father.’  

But since these are fictional characters I feel like we can discuss it without causing harm, and I would agree with @vampires-and-witches who had made commentary that Claudia would probably be the fictional character with the most daddy issues in VC [X]. 

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^And yet, in spite of her “daddy issues,” Claudia had persevered (at least, temporarily) when she thought she had killed her own dad/maker. As much as I love Lestat, he did have that coming to him, he deserved it, and he doesn’t even blame her for doing it. So when Claudia rose up and attacked the one who had wronged her the most? 12 year old me was thrilled, cheering her on! I wasn’t about to copy her and kill my parents *eyeroll* but what it showed me was the immense strength of character, someone who was at a great physical disadvantage, AND burdened with “daddy issues,” and yet she executed her plan entirely on her own and succeeded!

I will add that I think VC has a ton of terrible fictional parents (mortal/biological and vampiric/makers). Many are neglectful, abusive, manipulative, etc. or a combination. A terrible or absent parent/maker can affect someone’s future relationships with everyone they interact with. It’s those fictional characters who bear that burden and rise up and succeed (or at least keep trying!) despite it, those are some of the best characters in the series, in my opinion.

So I’ll open this up, anyone can reblog/comment about the characters with the most “daddy/maker issues”! 

QUIZ: Which Shakespeare Archetype Are You?

I was tagged by @theraphaellus, and also got ~The powerful queen~

Tagging: @annabellioncourt, @gothiccharmschool, @thebibliosphere, @phantasmaturgia, @roselioncourt, @monstersinthecosmos, @terryfphanatics, @rip1009, @chernatsaritsa, @obsessional-ram, @b-juned-91, @sansese, @viedzma, @theroyalpalmtreeofoz, @riverofwhispers, @katherine-moore, @thearchipoet, @darknessmolten, @bloodstrung, @bravenotstubborn, @claudiaindarkness, @devilsfool, @wicked-felina, @moral-cipher, @pour-some-aspartame-on-me, @mylittleinferno, @firelight-fading, @merrycai, @onceuponadisneywish, @grrhatlet, @icestorming, @iheartthelochnessmonster, @carouselcurls, @vampires-and-witches, @witchyrem-ains, @auburnandamberangel, @chrissydeath, @honeyvanity, @garama, @claudiaslights, @sanguinivora, @unicornshavemohawks, @artisticfreedomofexpression, @lunchiemunchies, @fatcoincat, @paternalpadfoot, @remarried, @oramuda, @celiplier, @compressedconstellations, @eccentrically-paracosmic, @sailor-sparkle-kicks, @unionthesalmon, @flurgburgler, @princess-of-literally-anything, @friendlyjinx, @queenofthesavagegarden, @goddessofidiocy, @xtoxictears, @transylvaniateaparty, @musicislifeme, @naru81, @benevolentlyevil, @mferret9, @vittoriathevampire

… and anyone else who wants to do it! Consider yourself tagged!

QUIZ: Which Shakespeare Archetype Are You?

Vampire Chronicles Discord Server

firelight-fading:

…is up! This is a place separate from tumblr for the fandom to have group discussion, post headcanons, share pics or videos, and just have fun!

Send me an ask for the link to the server so you can join~

On the ship name topic, I propose Ariel for Armand and Daniel, maybe throw in some parallels of Daniel wanting to become a vampire and the Little Mermaid Ariel wanting to become a human. Also Ariel is a redhead who collects human things so yeah.

I think you make very good points! I have to post this in response, too, bc c’mon:

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[^VC mermaid AU nonsense – Armand :3 by @sheepskeleton]

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^The hipster Ariel meme would probably appeal to them both, too.

elf-kid2:

infernalorchestrina:

the-milk-eyed-mender:

kitsunecoffee:

beecharts:

fangirequeen:

knottybear:

archiemcphee:

Here’s an awesome little piece of history:

Archaeologists in the Burnt City have discovered what appears to be an ancient prosthetic eye. What makes this discovery exceptionally awesome is the striking description of how the owner and her false eye would have appeared while she was still alive and blinking:

[The eye] has a hemispherical form and a diameter of just over 2.5 cm (1 inch). It consists of very light material, probably bitumen paste. The surface of the artificial eye is covered with a thin layer of gold, engraved with a central circle (representing the iris) and gold lines patterned like sun rays. The female remains found with the artificial eye was 1.82 m tall (6 feet), much taller than ordinary women of her time. On both sides of the eye are drilled tiny holes, through which a golden thread could hold the eyeball in place. Since microscopic research has shown that the eye socket showed clear imprints of the golden thread, the eyeball must have been worn during her lifetime. The woman’s skeleton has been dated to between 2900 and 2800 BCE. 

So she was an extraordinarily tall woman walking around wearing an engraved golden eye patterned with rays like a tiny sun. What an awesome sight that must have been.

[via TYWKIWDBI]

Wow.

SOMEONE DRAW HER PLEASE

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW AN ANCIENT CRAFTSMAN WAS PRESENTED WITH PEOPLE LOOKING FOR HELP TO NORMALIZE THEIR DISABILITY. AND THEN SAID ‘NAH FUCK THIS WE’RE GOING TO

MAKE YOU LOOK BADASS.’ 

i love her

i still love her

No, but.

She might have come in asking to me made badass. Like.

“Hullo, people.have been giving me grief for losing my eye, so I want to convince them that I traded my left eye for super-powers. Can you do that?”

“Yeah, sounds awesome, just let me in on the con too!”

“Sweetness.”

I gotta a question! So we all know that Louis is completely against turning a human into a vampire right? But at the same time, he wanted to leave Claudia to be with Armand. How on earth did he think it was going to work out? Obviously, he had to turn someone into a vampire in order for Claudia to be cared for since she couldn’t grow up.

Louis does not approve of making vampires himself, that’s for sure! But yes, Louis wanted to be with Armand and Armand didn’t want Claudia as part of that equation and she knew it. 

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So, right, IDK what Louis was thinking about how it could possibly work out w/o making her a new adult vampire companion. He had little choice in that. He couldn’t bear to think of her out there on her own, she clearly wasn’t going to be invited to join the Theatre des Vampires, and she couldn’t make an adult vampire herself. There was a line in book!IWTV where she tells Louis: “ ‘Can you picture it?’ she said, so softly I scarcely heard. “A coven of children? That is all I could provide…” <– whether she could actually turn a child is not known. We don’t know of it happening successfully anywhere else in canon before or after that point. Louis probably would not have approved of that, either.

Worth noting here is that in the first version of IWTV, Claudia wasn’t killed off by the Parisian coven (from the Vampire Companion):

“In the first version of [IWTV], Claudia eventually goes off with three vampire brothers whom she meets in Paris. She does not die. As such, it was as if Rice had attempted to give her daughter a form of immortality. Rice, however, experienced psychological problems that cleared up only after she had rewritten the ending – by killing off Claudia and taking Louis through an experience of intense grieving. This version was much more cathartic for Rice.”

Hey, I just realised that there’s a damn cat with a top hat right in your blog and I don’t know how the hell does that relate with VC, BUT IT SOMEHOW DOES <3333333 #vampiresandcatswearingtophats

It’s this lil kitteh bein’ all Lestatuesque [X] that’s how it relates to VC! Not my meme, but I love it:

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um yes of course 

#vampiresandcatswearingtophats! 

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[X] I might be changing the cat’s hat/accessories for different holidays tho! ❤

Greetings! I’ve been advised to take my question to you ^^ At the end of IWTV, Louis talks about this young, newly made vampire that is mad at Lestat for not getting out of his chair (tries to feed him a baby). Now, this cannot be Antonie because that guy hadn’t seen Lestat from the late 1700s until 2014 when Prince Lestat came out. But as far as I can tell, this unnamed fledgling is never mentioned anywhere else. Do you think he slipped through the cracks and was just forgotten by Anne?

Hello! I have thought about this, probably thought about it TOO much… and while I don’t a clear answer, it’s a stimulating question: 

Was this young ‘nurse’ vampire a fledgling of Lestat’s? 

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^How does the old fandom joke go? Every time X sound occurs, Lestat makes another fledgling? *facepalm*

I agree w/ your point about re: Antoine, it seems like Lestat or Antoine would have confirmed that it was in fact Antoine who was the unnamed young vampire in that scene in IWTV.

TL;DR: We have unreliable narrators** in BOTH Lestat and Louis*. I personally don’t think that the unnamed ‘nurse’ vampire in this scene was made by Lestat, but it’s quite possible! Lestat has never mentioned him again in canon, but we might find out about him in the next novel.

Hit the jump for more, cut for length.


This is an excerpt from the scene

in IWTV (the book, not in the movie) w/ the unnamed young vampire @terryfphanatics is asking about:

“Because shortly after that I saw a vampire in New Orleans, a sleek white-faced young man walking alone on the broad sidewalks of St. Charles Avenue…” (this mystery vampire kills a woman and takes her baby to a shabby old house where he meets up with Lestat) “My eyes widened as I studied this stooped and shivering vampire whose rich blond hair hung down in loose waves covering his face…

… “ ‘You all leave me!’ [Lestat] whined now in a thin, high-pitched voice.

‘You can’t keep us with you!’ said the stiff young vampire sharply.”

(Louis taps at the window)

…“ ‘It’s Louis! Louis!’ [Lestat] said. `Let him in’ And he gestured frantically, like an invalid, for the young `nurse’ to obey. … and I could see the tears welling in his eyes…How baffling and awful it was, this smoothfaced, shimmering immortal man bent and rattled and whining like a crone.”

So yes, Lestat might have made this ‘nurse’ vampire as Marius made Bianca, a dedicated fledgling vampire to help him in his recovery. 

As with the previously unnamed musician vampire in IWTV – who later became known as Antoine in PL – I used to headcanon that

Lestat couldn’t bear to even mention the musician vampire’s name in later canon bc he was either A) an embarrassment to Lestat or B) that they had broken up violently, C) both, D) the musician vampire had really been killed by Claudia, or E) other reasons. This unnamed young ‘nurse’ vampire might fall under A, B, C, or E. Or maybe someone else has killed him since then *shrugs*

When Lestat says: ‘You all leave me!’ ;A; This could be about his fledglings, bc, yes, when you take TVL into account, up to this point in canon all four have chosen to leave him: Gabrielle, Nicolas, Louis & Claudia (at this point in canon, the unnamed musician vampire appeared to have been destroyed). Armand’s warnings to Lestat about making fledglings

in TVL are relevant: 

“Oh, but it’s always a travesty, don’t you see?… And the veil will always come down between you. Make a legion. You will be, always and forever, alone!


If the ‘nurse’ vampire was not made by Lestat: It also would have been possible for a rogue vampire to find Lestat, perceive that he was an older vampire, and might have wisdom or power, or the rogue had heard of the legendary Lestat, and come in search of him purposely. I feel like this is more likely given how beaten down Lestat was from the assassination attempt and his survival of the Theatre des Vampires in such close proximity.


THEN we have THIS (also from IWTV, prior to the scene excerpted above):

“[Armand] told me something he’d concealed from me since the time we were in Paris.

“Lestat had not died in the Theatre des Vampires. I had believed him to be dead, and when I asked Armand about those vampires, he told me they all had perished. But he told me now that this wasn’t so. Lestat had left the theater the night I had run away from Armand and sought out the cemetery in Montmartre. Two vampires who had been made with Lestat by the same master had assisted him in booking passage to New Orleans.”

^Like…. WHAT?

Maybe Armand had heard it through the grapevine that Lestat had these two caretakers, but since Lestat never mentions having siblings in the blood from Magnus, it’s possible that Armand is lying so that Louis thinks Lestat already has enough support and doesn’t need a THIRD caretaker. 

Or, of course, Anne Rice either A) forgot about these two sibling vampires or B) chose not to address them. They would probably both have been too old to be the “young nurse vampire” but… MAYBE WE’LL GET THEM IN THE NEXT BOOK WHO KNOWS? Anything! is possible!

*Further complicated by the fact that Louis’s story went through Daniel and Daniel’s publishers, who may have added misinformation of their own for a better story! Reprehensible that this young vampire would bring Lestat a baby as a victim, but in Lestat’s defense, he doesn’t want it: “ ‘You might have brought me something else!’ said Lestat bitterly.”

**And there’s also the unreliable narrator issue, there is some speculation as to whether this scene occurred at all, or that it occurred differently than Louis reported.