Thank you, and you’re not late, mon cher. My birthday always falls on halves, the night before and the night after… so really, it is a two-night long thing.
It was a great birthday, even though we ruined a designer gown. Actually, ruining it was part of the fun! Ah, well…
I’m so glad that you thought of me when you read it! There are far worse things to be associated with omg. And yes: I still wonder if Louis is genuinely deep and depressed, and the pretentious tone comes from honest misery–or if he’s putting on some kind of Byronic mask, unable to actually feel for others any more than the average vampire does, and that this flowery writing is his attempt to reconcile with him self “Yes I CAN feel, I do still maintain that aspect of my humanity.”
And Lestat comes across as the villain because Louis wants him to, when you read the section of The Vampire Lestat that focuses on his time with Louis, you start to wonder how much Louis exaggerated to make himself feel like the long wandering philosopher, and that Lestat was little more than a rich European fleeing his troubles. Lestat, despite being just as melancholic and miserable is affected by things much differently, and unlike Louis, who at the end tries to stay detached from the world, Lestat compensates for his pain by falling in love with everything he sees in the world, throwing himself to the mercy of it in a half-death wish and half-euphoric madness.
They’re both such fascinating characters for the way that they handle pain and their own evilness (there’s a running debate under the surface with all of the vampires “are we inherently wicked becuase of what we are, or are we merely something enhanced, no more wicked than before, but everything we do seems louder?”). The cast of the novels are all so flawed but so heartfelt (often despite themselves).
As far as anti-heroes go, these two drama queens are up on my favorites list with the Phantom and Rochester, (though while Rochester’s failing was merely hiding and running away from his issues, pretending that they weren’t there, I’d say he’s lower on the ‘Byronic anti-hero’ level and more simply a Percy Shelley).
Finally, don’t apologize, I love talking about these books so much. Or at least the first three. I’m ride or die with Anne Rice at this point, but I try to take everything after Queen of the Damned with a grain of salt….or a few cups of salt. A lot of salt….
#Eloquent eloquence #Annabellioncourt #on point as always
They’re both such fascinating characters for the way that they handle pain and their own evilness… The cast of the novels are all so flawed but so heartfelt (often despite themselves).
^For me, this is what elevates VC from many other vampire/supernatural/any other series. If I liked them as vampires there’s plenty of other vampire media out there to get into, but these characters are who they are first, and vampires secondarily.
I would add that ppl are allowed to have those kinds of feelings when they’re 13, it’s around that time that we’re grasping the harsh reality of the real world. Disappointments about one’s expectations not meeting reality… it’s a trying time.
Whether growing pains are as valid as Louis’ issues (the whole “killing people is wrong but feels right now” is a big one), that’s up to individual reader’s judgment, but I think @annabellioncourt put it very well, that Louis is trying to maintain some dignity with the way he tells his story, which may come across as pretentious by our modern standards. The other thing to remember is that that book was written in the 70′s, and the writing style may seem dated for that reason, as well.
Remember that Louis reads A LOT, and he likes this older literature, so some of the language of the writers he loves seeps into his own language and the way he frames his memories. I think that’s partly why we see/hear so little of Louis in later canon, capturing his voice is a challenge.
PRAYS TO GOD THAT ATLANTIS WILL BE TREATED AS A LOST CIVILIZATION AND NOT AS SOME UNDERWATER WORLD
ANNE SAID SHE WAS WRITING A BOOK ON ATLANTIS YEARS BACK WHEN SHE RELEASED WOLVES OF MIDWINTER.
SHE DIDN’T SAY IT WOULD CROSS OVER WITH VAMPIRE CHRONICLES.
HAVE U LEARNED NOTHING FROM UR LAST CROSSOVER ATTEMPT?
ok mermaids aside (no, I’m not going to stop with them, ya all gettin Armand-Ariel soon) I’m actually up for Anne babbling about lost ancient civilisations? I mean, it will be bad, it will be crack, it will be kitchy and completly over the top AND I’M 100% UP FOR THIS.
it will be Memnoch, it will be Servant of the Bones, it will be Lestat going on a spiritual journey to discover ancient vampires of Atlantis knowing the secrets of the Savage Garden. Amel was born there, he was not Egyptian to begin with. There are vampires older than Akasha.
Lord help us
PLROA Prediction: Princess Ariel herself will appear and claim to be a lost Mayfair bc #GINGER WITCHES FTW
… also Amel was the soul of Ariel’s dead mother so all the vampires are actually descendants of a dead mermaid and Amel was female all along #girl power
[^Appropriate gif bc he’s all decked out for the opera]
I know like 3% about opera/musicals/plays so @annabellioncourt helped me out w/ this one. She says (btw this was a chat so italics are my comments and I edited it into this format, and she can correct me however needed):
FAUST – As a vampire he prefers Faust, which is about a man who sold his soul to a devil for youth and fame, and I think its self explanatory as to why he’s drawn to it.
So for Louis, the themes of darkness and the dark side of religion and the supernatural, the cost of damnation, those themes in Faust would stick out to him, even if the story itself is not one he approves of. The audience is not supposed to like the character of Faust.
Don Giovanni is just an amazing show, and was incredibly popular during the 19th century. As a mortal, Louis had a soft spot for Giovanni (but never admitted to liking anything other than French opera). It’s about a man who’s a womanizing creep, but at the end he’s dragged to hell by demons and the ghost of the father of a woman he wronged. In opera, the themes and music are always more important than the story.
Phantom of the Opera: (technically a musical but still) Louis would definitely enjoy POTO.
Les Mis: Lestat tolerates Les Mis bc even though its not THE French Revolution, its anti-aristocracy themes bother him.
Lestat loves some of the characters in Les Mis tho, like Enjolras (who he says looks like him). Louis enjoys it; he finds it patriotic.
Elisabeth, the German musical:
Its a rock musical and Louis would love this. The “Der Tod,” his character is basically Lestat. It’s about the Austrian empress and her life, as well as a love triangle with herself, her husband, and Death himself. Der Tod is German for Death. And he’s a main character.
Louis would probably enjoy any of the “traditional” musicals, but the more rock based ones would be more up Lestat’s alley.
my hc was always that they couldn’t get it up; that the “at the gate” bit meant that it was waiting to rise to the ocassion, but they lacked the ability either physically, or else they were no longer sexually aroused bc blood was a far greater pleasure to them.
That’s my hc, too, at least for Ricean vampires. As much as they might have disliked eachother IRL, Tom and Brad definitely conveyed the ecstasy of blood sharing, a form of intimacy similar to (or as AR has put it, better than) sex.
She wants “mass produced and readily available action figures …that might pass for Lestat, so that anyone could have one for a few bucks” !!! Anne, do you know how much Barbies cost these days? More than “a few bucks” but still, I like where she’s going with this.
Louis – @merciful-death’s Louis has a black cat named Harriet (#headcanon accepted!). She leaves him dead mice often, and according to Lestat (@devilsfool): “She hunts them to try to feed you. She’s convinced that you are a terrible hunter.”
I also see Louis as being visited frequently by a big stray tomcat, and Lestat doesn’t approve of this one either bc MORE CAT HAIR ON VELVET FURNITURE. Velvet is very cat-hair-ophillic. This cat doesn’t have a name but Louis calls him by a lot of baby names (”Mon chou,” “Sir Fluff,” “Kitten,”) and Lestat calls him by a lot of rude names (”Hairball,” “Trashface,” “Loaf”). This cat actually followed Harriet to their home one night, and he likes to nap with her when she allows it.
Lestat – I know you didn’t ask about Lestat but I have to include him a little more! According to @annabellioncourt, “Lestat was also a canon dog person, and while there are people who love both (hi) I think with Lestat’s constant need for validation he’d be a total dog person.
Like no cats at all.
He hissed back at Louis’s cat once.
Lestat almost always has a dog, and he has meticulous memory of all the dogs he ever had.“
^#headcanon accepted.
Daniel – Lizards! Frogs! Snakes! Reptiles in general. Also insects. He has a big pinned collection, featuring gorgeous butterflies and buprestidae. Lestat loves this collection and goes to reptile houses with Daniel on occasion. They both love cobras.
Armand – I can’t find the canon evidence but I’m pretty sure he had big fancy aquariums on Night Island.
[X] Armand is truly fascinated with owls, owls are totes his spirit animal, deceptively powerful in their small size. Their symbolism for intelligence and careful planning. And y’know, they’re basically "flying pillows filled with seething hatred.” like Armand!
Hit the jump for a bit more.
Marius had taxidermied animals:“giant stuffed beasts mounted in lifelike attitudes – the brown bear, the lion, the tiger, even the elephant standing in his own immense chamber, lizards as big as dragons, birds of prey clutching dried branches made to look like the limbs of real trees.” -TVL
Marius also had a “giant aquarium, the great room-sized tank” filled w/ “rare and beautiful tropical fish” and caged birds. – QOTD
Claudia loved birds, especially small ones. She likes songbirds especially. She also loved rabbits but more for their fur than their personality.
I-want-my-IWTV 