Tag Archives: fan questions for Lestat

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The longest answer to a Fan Question for Lestat yet omg, of course bc it’s about FASHION, gdi Lestat.

Lestat here. Answering yet another question, this one from Sandra Evans Johnson: “Lestat how to you feel about clothing from the past as apposed to clothing from today?” Great question, Sandra, because I am mad for clothing and always have been. As you know I was born into a world of ornate and flaring frock coats, breeches and high heeled slippers, silks, satins, embroidery and the like, and stunning lace trimmed shirts with magnificent sleeves. It was an era in which well-to-do Parisian men wore as much powder and paint as any woman, along with powdered wigs and ribbons and jewels. And I loved it. But I grew up loving it with bitterness, longing, and desperate greed — as all of this high fashion belonged to the moneyed classes, and my family was penniless, rural, and threadbare. In sum, ever since experiencing the first flush of wealth, I’ve cared too much about being well dressed, gone to embarrassing lengths to obtain the most alluring fabrics and the most seductive designs, and spent entirely too much time admiring myself in mirrors. For long periods I have tried to make do with plainer clothes, especially when the times so decreed, but inevitably, both in despair and in joy, I return to baroque and extravagant fashions. I am too comforted by admiring glances. I enjoy too much entering a theater or opera house or public square and creating something of a sensation. And it delights me no end that in these nights of the Twenty-first century, I can dress almost as elaborately as I did in the 1700’s and people accept this. I appear to be eccentric but never mad. I adore close fitting small waisted and flaring coats, slim fitting pants, velvet, satin, glorious tweeds, leather and glimmering synthetics, finely woven shirts with heaps of delicate lace, pearl and cameo buttons, and the finest handmade boots I can procure. I glory in my thick and long blond hair which is part of the “costume.” And I can’t get enough of jeweled rings, fine gold watches, and dazzling cufflinks. I’m shameless with all this. It’s beautiful to me. I want to be beautiful. I’m fascinated by others who see dress and costume in the same way. I discard and abandon clothes all over the world simply because I want new clothes. And I go for the modern designers who most effectively capture the “frock coat” look, such as Ralph Lauren. But I also delight in exquisitely made double breasted blazers from Brooks Brothers, such superb work, and now and then I go for the Italian designers….but it’s always for well constructed clothes. The loose, formless, easy fashions so popular now are for other men. T shirts and bill caps? Never. Thanks for the question and I am personally ashamed that this is one of the longest answers I’ve ever given here.

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Another Fan Question for Lestat answered:

Lestat here. This question is from Federica DarkMoon: “Lestat, would you be give the Dark Gift to someone is ugly, but with a powerful attitude and a brilliant brain, and who loves the same kind of music, look and art you love?” Absolutely, I would, Federica. In theory and in principle and in fact, I would. But it is a fact of the Undead world — to be respected — that vampires give the Dark Gift to those whom they feel are physically as well as mentally and spiritual attractive. But could such a person be physically ugly? Yes. Could the person be old? Yes. Could the person be plain? Yes. Could the person be disfigured? Yes. What matters more than anything is the spirit infusing the person, and for me that would and should involve the person’s curiosity, intensity, love and respect for all life, and desire for knowledge. What matters to me more than anything in selecting candidates for the Dark Gift is whether or not I love them, or think that I will grow to love them, whether or not I desperately want them to share eternity with me, and whether or not they engage me sufficiently that I can count on myself to spend the requisite time with them needed to prepare them for immortality. Of course I’m a creature of wild impulse. I made my beloved child, Claudia, into a vampire just to see what would happen, and hoping that she would help prevent my companion, Louis, from leaving me. And to be quite candid about that, I had no idea Claudia would be so exquisite once transformed or so interesting. She was after all a tiny, malnourished creature, covered in dirt and rags, and on the brink of death. —- Does this cover it? I hope so.

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FQL re: Memnoch the Devil:

Lestat here. I want to answer this question from Cassandra Porter: “You’ve said that you’re absolutely sure that Memnoch is not the Devil. What do you think he is? An Amel type spirit that conjured up imagery that was familiar to you in order to toy with you?” — Yes, Cassandra, that is exactly what I think Memnoch is — a discarnate entity, like Amel in origin — who can conjure, spellbind, deceive. And I fear and distrust such spirits mightily. I think they wreak havoc with human beings and have throughout history — pretending to be deities, spirit “guides,” familiars, fairies, demons, gods answering prayers, guardian angels, oracular voices, and so forth. I think they can possess people; and mislead people. I don’t fully understand them, where they come from, or what they want. I have no idea how many of them there are. But I fear them and I don’t like them. I do not think they are of necessity “evil,” or “good.” And I’m not sure they know whether or not they’re “evil” or “good.” I’m not even sure they know who or what they are. But I think they make trouble. Understand, I don’t rule out that there may also be actual gods and angels. But I fear that much of the activity we attribute to such beings may be the deceitful and playful work of spirits. Maybe in time we’ll know more about them — whether they’ve always been bound in some way to our world, whether they come from another world, whether they have any connection with anything beyond this world. For now, I’m leery of them and the harm they can do. I have a great reverence and respect and love for the material world in which we live, and for what we learn as flesh and blood creatures. I fear anything purely discarnate. —– Thanks for that question. —– If any of you have questions for me to answer tomorrow, by all means post them here.

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FQL:

Lestat here. I want to answer a question from Areona May: “Lestat, when you laid unmoving on the chapel floor all those years, why was it only Armand who was allowed to approach you? to touch you? What was it about him that was so special to your heart? —– Areona, I’m not quite ready to discuss in depth what was happening during my ‘comatose’ years on the chapel floor in New Orleans, but I can tell you I was conscious all the while, and aware of what was happening around me. In general, I was essentially recovering from my great journey to "Heaven and Hell” with Memnoch, seeking to make sense of what had been “revealed” to me and what it meant, and whether or not any of it could be trusted. You could say I was roaming on another plane of existence. Some time in the future, I might be able to say more about it. I controlled who approached me and who didn’t. And I did allow Armand to come close for a specific reason. He had a deep anguished need to know whether Memnoch had been a truthful spirit or a lying spirit, whether my visions with Memnoch had been true glimpses of the Divine or delusion. His pain shone bright, brighter than the pain of anyone near me. And so I honored Armand’s intentions. You could say that Armand respected what happened to me with Memnoch more than any of my other immortal comrades. I love Armand deeply. My view of Armand has evolved over time. The less I fear him, the more I love him. And the more I suffer, the more I come to understand Armand’s suffering. I have never doubted Armand’s love for me. We are kith and kin, Armand and me. Areona, thanks for the question. —– I will return later to this page to answer another question and at that time, you all can leave more questions for me.

[fanart by garama]

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FQL of recent answerage:

Lestat here. Deb Chowning Thomas asks: “Lestat, i would love to meet your mother. Do you ever see her? I would love to hear of her adventures.” Trust me, Deb. You do not want to meet my mother. Meeting my mother is one of those ideas that sounds good, but isn’t. My mother isn’t calculatedly cruel but she is almost entirely indifferent to human beings, and even those immortals around her. And you’ll likely never hear a story of her adventures, but she will never take the trouble to tell such a tale, even to herself, let alone anyone else. I do love my mother and I do see her often of late, but I could never call it deeply satisfying or even a pleasure. Sentient and articulate beings bore my mother. She is truly more interested in the physical world, and the animal world than she is in human personality or art or culture. But who knows? Maybe I’m wrong about my mother. Maybe she does have some great story to tell about a love, a tragedy, a triumph or what mortals call “a learning experience.” But I see no indication of it. Let’s put it this way, she seems consistently annoyed when I’m around her, and eager to slip away. That’s the dominant theme with her. And that’s how she’s been since her first nights as an immortal. But maybe I need her too much to really understand her. Good question, Deb. Thanks. But if you do ever encounter my mother, run. I doubt she’s ever bothered to stalk or chase or hunt down an unwilling victim. Just doesn’t interest her.

viaticumforthemarquise, thoughts?

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Another FQL answered:

Lestat here. Answering two questions here. —- This question came from Anna Newbern: “Dear Lestat, if you could be reincarnated as any animal, which animal would you choose and why?” Ghastly thought, Anna. I would hate being reincarnated as an animal. I had a hard enough time being a human. But if this had to happen, I would choose to be a male lion. Of course I’d wish for splendid size, mane, and health, and would want to be free on the African plain, and to live a vigorous and murderous life, competing with other males for dominance of mates and hunting territories. —– Here’s the second question, from Aqeel Baksh: “Lestat – Question with all your gifts and time, is there any place you have yet to go to (on earth) that you would like to? and why?” — Truly, I want to see and explore every place on earth, and I have yet to explore India or Pakistan, or Australia and New Zealand, or the Andes Mountains or the world’s many tropical islands. Just have not gotten around to it. But I will in the future. I want to see the physical beauty of these places and all places, want to roam amongst the people, want to feel the air, and view the stars from these many places. —– Thanks for two excellent questions.

HEY liquorandptsdvarietyshow, prep your guest bedroom (or your own bed, hehehe), Lestat wants to visit NZ! 

Lestat here. I want to answer one short question from Alex Hall. Alex asks me: “Did you kill Louis’s brother?” The answer is no. I had nothing to do whatsoever with the death of Louis’ brother. For those of you who don’t or can’t know, this pertains to the story of “Interview with the Vampire.” When I encountered Louis in the 18th century in Louisiana, Louis was grieving for his dead brother. Louis felt he’d failed his brother and caused the brother to take his own life. For a variety of highly complex reasons, I found Louis profoundly emotionally and physically attractive, and I invited him to receive the Dark Gift from me. I brought him over, made him my vampire brother, friend and lover. But only after did I learn about his family, his personal losses, his grief, etc. I would never have struck down some innocent person – Louis’ brother — just to make another person ripe for the Dark Gift. Never even occurred to me. I found Louis deliciously despairing, reckless, and charming. Of course, if he had not lost his brother he might not have been so attractive to me. But again, I didn’t plan all this. There are too many likely candidates available at all times for the Dark Blood; one does not have to go to great lengths to prepare people for it. At least that is what I felt back then in those nights. —– I’ll be back later today to answer more questions.

ANOTHER Fan Question for Lestat answered.

Lestat here. This question comes from Vicki Golightly: “I have never read the books but I have heard so much about them and yes I do have a question, how were you created and do you have a soul?” — Vicki, if you mean how was I created as a vampire, the process was simple. I was kidnapped by an older vampire named Magnus, taken by force to his tower outside of Paris, and there made a vampire through an exchange of blood. Magnus drained me to the point of death and had I not drunk his powerful blood after that, I would have died. Well, I drank it. And I became a vampire like him. This is how it is done with our species; the human is drained and then infused with the maker’s blood. And yes, I most certainly do have a soul — as surely as any human being has a soul. I define soul as that invisible and conscious part of myself which may or may not survive biological death. And I am certain I have one; I am certain that all human beings have souls. And very likely some non-human beings have souls as well. But this soul question is a matter of faith. I can tell you for certain that I have a conscience, and it is a very human conscience, though I do not always listen to it by any means. —- Vicki, thanks again for your question. —- I’ll be back later today with more answers.

Another Fan Question for Lestat answered!

Lestat here. Many of you have asked me whether or not I have any regrets. At first I ignored this question, because I am constitutionally opposed to the very idea of regret. But the more I saw the question, the more I thought about the whole matter. And I think there is indeed one thing in my life that I actively regret. I regret that during the 19th century when I lived in New Orleans with my vampire companions, Louis and Claudia, I did not tell them more about our origins, and about the vampires of the old world. I thought at the time that I was protecting them from secrets that could only hurt them, sheltering them in a wilderness and paradise that belonged exclusively to the three of us. But this was all wrong. I should have known that Louis and Claudia needed to know about the origins of our kind, needed to know where we’d come from, needed to know whether or not there were others out there, and I should have anticipated and encouraged their questions rather than keeping them at a distance from myself. Of course one reason I made this awful mistake is that I did know secrets about vampires that I was bound by an oath not to reveal. But I could have told Louis and Claudia more than I did. I could have respected their need for knowledge. I truly regret that I did not. As many of you know, our little coven family came to disaster, and I think I had a hand in that disaster, by not giving my beloved fledglings more information and insight into what we were. —- I’ll be back later to answer more questions.

Another Fan Question for Lestat answered.