I thought that Louis was really weak for a vampire but I was told that he wasn’t. I’m confused because I always remember him being portrayed a physically weak as far as vampires go.

Well, it depends what part of canon you’re at, and what amount of canon you accept.*  I’m still not entirely sure what my headcanon is w/ his current abilities, but even if you ignore all of canon after IWTV, he’s been a vampire 225 years so he’s stronger just through age if nothing else. 

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He’s also one of the only vampires in canon who has never “gone to ground” (hiding/burying oneself in the ground for an extended period of time in a state of complete or semi-unconsciousness), even though he’s had very good reasons to ;A;

 Armand describes Louis’ lack of powers here in TVA: “…unable to read minds, or to levitate, or to spellbind others except inadvertently, which can be hilarious, an immortal with whom mortals fall in love.”

Just from IWTV and into the later books, yes, Louis is referred to as physically weaker than the other vampires, and he doesn’t exhibit any of the gifts that some other fledglings have in canon (like telepathy, telekinesis). This doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any of these now, but that he hasn’t really exercised them in canon. 

Lestat tells us in TVL: “I never revealed to him half my powers, and with reason, because he shrank in guilt and self-loathing from using even half of his own.”

But he’s still stronger and faster than a mortal. He’s also able to defend himself and kick a lot of ass, so to call him “really weak” is probably an overstatement. What he lacks physically he makes up for mentally, he’s strategic in the way he attacks when he does attack, and he can hold his own against much stronger and older vampires (he took out most of the Theatre des Vampires on his own in IWTV!)

Part of his weakness in comparison to the rest of the coven is the fact that he was Lestat’s 3rd fledgling in such a short period of time after Lestat’s 2nd fledgling (Nicolas). In Ricean vampire physiology, a maker needs to wait a good long while between making fledglings; too much frequency will make subsequent fledglings weaker than they could have been. Plus, even though Lestat had the blood of a much older and stronger vampire when he was turned, Lestat himself was only a decade into vampiring himself. It seems the vampiric spirit discourages the transfer of powers from young vampires to their fledglings. If anyone got the bulk of that power, it was Gabrielle, Lestat’s first.

There is also some speculation that the blood transfer needs to be exchanged more than once (how it was done w/ Louis) to ensure a stronger fledgling. Marius, for example, exchanged blood with his maker multiple times when he was turned.

*Spoilers under the cut.

Louis was upgraded in Merrick, and in PL, he can fly (the Cloud Gift). We don’t know if he has any others now. Maybe we’ll find out in PLROA! He has a significant role in it, according to AR.

Lestat >:3 i am so in love with you Q////Q … u///-////u I been preaching your god damn word in every place i go… 737/ all my friends read your books now, my boyfriend, xD c: Tell Louis to love you… LOUIS PLZ love him back <3

♛ Darling, you have done me proud! I’ll send you a set of satin sheets as a reward for being such a loyal and devoted admirer *kisses* See, this is why I write these books, so that people will actually know my side of the story and see that I’m pretty f*cking LOVABLE. 

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I’ve been telling Louis to love me for years, he has improved over time, but yes, I’ll show him your message, remind him tonight, and I’ll try to do it without crying… 

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[^X by @titanium-starfish]

Dearest Lestat (I hope it is alright to use your first name?) Other than your own, what is your favourite vampire book or series?

//Sorry, my Lestat can’t answer this one 😛 Since I haven’t read many other vampire books or series, I can’t consider what his opinion would be on them! 

He’d probably be more into the vampire movies and graphic novels/comics than novels and series. Lestat was into

Sam Spade

comics before it was cool to be a giant nerd! ;D 

He does read books, he did a lot of reading to educate himself on the state of the world in 1984, but remember how he felt about Gabrielle’s bookworminess: “I hated the sight of her books; I hated her absorption in them.” 

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[X by @so-bad-its-effin-awesome

However, I did ask around and got some recs from other ppl about other vampire books/series Lestat might like:

@annabellioncourt:

  • The Historian (for its worldliness), 
  • Dracula (for its stereotype-setting content), 
  • Lord Ruthven (Byronic vampire, Lestat doesn’t catch the irony of John Polidori’s mockery of the foppish, arrogant, and well…Lord-Byron-y vampire)
  • Tanith Lee’s vampire series was out when Lestat was playing rockstar
  • The Delicate Dependency, for romance and decadence.
  • and also A Taste of Blood Wine, also for romance and decadence.

@riverofwhispers:

  • Carmilla is good
  • Anita Blake and Sookie Stackhouse books, but only the early ones.
  • the Rachel Morgan series but again starts out good gets weird later and it’s not about vampires so much as there are vampires in it.

Anyone can reblog/comment and add to this what you think Lestat might like to read! We’ll make this a recc post under #vc adjacent recs.

When people are African American and they are turned what color is there skin?

What you’re really asking is “When people of color are turned, does their skin color change?” because not all African-Americans are people of color, and there are many people of color who are not African-Americans.

I have seen other vampires of color (”VoC”) in other media like Blade (1998), Blacula (1972), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), Vamp (1986), Twilight Saga, True Blood (2008-2010), Vampire Diaries (2009-2010). The vampires I’m familiar with in those examples have retained their skin color.

You would probably get a better answer from @askavampirologist-blog​, because I think they have a wider spectrum of vampire media knowledge than I do, since this blog is mostly about Ricean vampires.

For Ricean vampires, they retain their original skin color, and over a very long period of time, their skin does become lighter. You would have to ask AR directly why she wrote her novels this way, I’m not going to guess at her intentions on that.

Here’s a VoC in QOTD:

“Davis was a black Dead guy and one damned good-looking black Dead guy,… His skin had a gold glow to it, the Dead glow which in the case of white Dead guys made them look like they were standing in a fluorescent light all the time.”

^We don’t know how old this vampire is, but it appears that his own skin color acquired a “gold glow” when he was turned.

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[^X] Akasha is an Egyptian VoC played in movie!QOTD by Aaliyah. According to Wiki, Aaliyah “was African American, and had Native American (Oneida) heritage from a grandmother.” Even though Aaliyah was not the same ethnicity of the fictional character, I was pleased that the filmmakers chose a person of color to play this vampire of color character. She was one of the best parts of the movie.

Akasha is described in the novels as having porcelain white skin because she is very old, and Ricean vampire physiology involves the lightening of the skin over time. This is a point of contention in the VC fandom, that AR has whitewashed her. I don’t have a stand on this partly because there is a debate as to what color the Ancient Egyptians’ skin really was. I have links to 2 articles about that, and some thoughts on the skin lightening issue, in a post from awhile back [X].


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^This was from Vampires Suck (2010), a parody vampire movie, and aesthetically, I didn’t like the way they did the makeup for this vampire of color. He looks like someone assaulted him with baby powder! But that was probably intentional, to make him look unattractive? IDK maybe someone digs this look!

My favorite VC FanFiction website disappeared and I’m so upset! I don’t know if it’ll come back either. Do you know of anywhere good to go?

Fanfic?? there’s no such thing as VC fanfic… pfffft. What are you crazy honestly??!

^Lestat is laughing bc he knows I is sarcastic.

I have some drabbles and links to fic saved with other characters in my #fanfic, and #damn you and your perfect headcanon perfection tags here. There’s also some fine stuff in the @vcsecretgifts archive.

Archive of Our Own (aka AO3) has a mission statement about protecting fanworks from copyright infringement arguments, so I feel pretty safe recc’ing stuff that’s on there, too.

The site you’re talking about, if it’s the one I think you mean*, does go down sometimes, but it’s usually a renewal fee for the domain, or the mods are tinkering with the layout.

This is a good reminder that you should always download the fanart and fanfics you like! You never know when a site could go away forever, or an artist/writer could take down their works. That’s part of why I made this blog in the first place, it was just supposed to be my collection of fanart and stuff, but now that it’s become what it is and gets so much attention, my blog is definitely not a safe archive anymore, it could get taken down. 


*I don’t want to put the name of it or link out here bc we still keep some fanfic places hidden. As you probably, know bc I’ve mentioned it SO MANY TIMES, our fandom experienced a war on fanfic like no other, and many great works were lost forever ;A; The secret fanfic places that remain, well… you have to earn the trust of someone who knows where they are bc altho AR’s stance has changed (in that she tolerates the existence of fanfiction), it doesn’t mean she wouldn’t change her mind and slam writers with legal action at some other time.

I’d love to just link things out here so that ppl can enjoy them but I can’t :-

All my mother does is overreact and make something out of my small mistakes. I wish that she wasn’t like this, because all I can feel is sadness. And she wonders why I’m melancholy, I can’t do anything right I her eyes.

♛There are many people out there who never should have been parents. I’m sorry that your mother is the way she is. Louis’ mother was like this, too. All she could see was his flaws. She was so disappointed with the way her life had turned out that her self-worth was built on bullying everyone around her into almost obsequious obedience.

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Take heart in knowing that you’ll be free of your mother eventually, free to go out and find people who will love you! People who will see your flaws but love you anyway. People who will want to help you improve in the ways you want to improve, and accept you in the ways you don’t. As you’ll do the same for them.

Hell, I’m far from perfect! But did I deserve the treatment I got from my father every time I wanted to improve my lot in life? It was the way things were at that time, and that’s the way things continue to be for so many people, even in this modern age. Trying to understand the reason why people behave the way they do may give you some perspective and closure. In so many cases, it’s a deep insecurity that causes people to be cruel to their children. I’m guilty of that. 

Your parents are just people, too. If it seems like all they do is try to tear you down, without any intention of helping you improve, do not let their disapproval seep into your own opinion of yourself. Life goes on so much longer than your upbringing, you have plenty of time and opportunity to find love and happiness. 

hey i was wondering, have you seen the person recently (not sure i should link or not) where a critic is analyzing the series in order? if so what did you think? they seem to have been in the fandom a long time like you, are you friends?

You probably mean @vraik

I’ve been following Vrai Kaiser for awhile now, but never reached out… Because of your ask, I finally did so tonight and we chatted a bit tonight! ^_____^

I’ve read some of their IWTV analysis here, and over on their blog, Fashionable Tinfoil accessories. Here’s the tumblr masterpost of their IWTV review

One of the things we talked about tonight is that different ppl engage with fandom in different ways. Some ppl engage with canon by making fanart, fanfic, cosplays, etc., some ppl do it by examining the text, considering it on its own and also re: the cultural impact it has on its readers. 

Vrai presents some intriguing opinions with a really good sense of humor in their writing style, and they have great pics from various sources (w/ fun captions!) to break up the text, definitely worth checking them out ;D

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[^X one of my memes, it’s Neil Jordan, certified vampire therapist]

Reading through Vrai’s reviews, this was something I grabbed onto and I really like it, re: Louis as an unreliable narrator [from The Consulting Analyst – Interview with the Vampire (Part 2)]:

I know I keep coming back to the fact that Louis lies and leaves things out of his story above and beyond his own ignorance of others, but it’s a crucial thing to return to in parsing out some manner of “truth” from the events we’re being told about. Between this account and Lestat’s own bitterness-tinged declaration that follows is an actuality, and the ambiguity of what defines that “truth” is very much at the heart of what allows these books to survive from one generation to the next. Even as parts become antiquated, you can always read a truth behind the bluster that speaks to you in a way Anne’s writing wasn’t able to cover. The ideas of these outsiders outlive the frame.

For a final touch on the subject, here’s an important moment from a little bit earlier.

“But you mustn’t be afraid to ask me anything. If I held something too close…” And when the vampire said this his face darkened for an instant. He frowned, and as his brows drew together a small well appeared in the flesh of his forehead over his left brow, as though someone had pressed it with a finger. It gave him a peculiar look of deep distress. “If I held something too close for you to ask about it, I would not bring it up in the first place,” he said.

So Louis as good as admits that he’s hiding things. It’s our job as readers, from here, to suss out where those lines get drawn.

When I was in middle school, I couldn’t cook to save my life. I ended up in a Home Ec class where the teach was determined to make me a ‘proper lady’. Needless to say, I wasnt okay with that. Needless to say, she failed and I lost kitchen privileges.

♛Well sometimes teachers do fail, it’s a sad fact of life. 

We tried to find the very best for Claudia, but regardless of their ability to teach they had a shortened life expectancy, unfortunately for them. We ended up homeschooling her to a certain extent, and you have to ask yourself whether your parents are talented enough for that bc I CERTAINLY WAS.

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Confession: When I was 16 I almost burned down an art house while participating in mandatory highschool community service. Instead of clean I hid and set leaves on fire.

♛I hope you take a different approach to things you’d rather not do now that you’re older. An art house! You were going to burn down art?! Or a performance space? Either way, terrible waste.

I still haven’t fire-broken Louis *ragged sigh* Don’t learn from his example.

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