That’s good then! Be angry. Fiction is not always out there to make you feel good. Sometimes it’s meant to push buttons, and in this case, it may have been smtg AR intended to explore, that some ppl really think/thought that Akasha’s idea could be a good path to peace.
Side note, this is so relevant right now bc in the Real World:
Unfortunately we are again faced with ppl who are consumed by their own ideology, with this new political regime and those that voted it in.
How are we going to deal with it? Are we going to let them steamroll everyone who opposes? How active can/should we be? We all have to ask that of ourselves bc fiction has very much become reality. And it’s nowhere near as pretty as Akasha.
So anyway, back to Akasha… Not all characters introduced by an author are ENDORSED by the author, the author is telling a story, maybe suggesting what might happen if we/the readers assumed, for example, that “all wars are started by men and therefore they should be removed from the equation for peace on earth.” AR shows us the narrow-mindedness of such an idea and that YES, Akasha is “herself is an example that women can do terrible things too.” Akasha probably knows that but bc it doesn’t fit with her own ideology, she is most likely ignoring it. If she doesn’t know that, she is refusing to learn it, which is just as bad, if not worse.
(Now we have a US President-Elect who’s saying that “it’s X, Y, Z group of ppl who start all the wars and have to be stopped.” SOUND FAMILIAR?)
[^X Lestat and his awesome girlfriend Akasha by @devmin-art]
BTW tho, did Akasha really believe in this or did she just want to be righteous and have a place in the world? When this initially happened, the Twins told her there was no way to undo it, and that she should kill herself to rid the world of the accident that she was, but like many living (unliving?) things, she didn’t want to die. She wanted to find a way to be righteous and have a purpose, and don’t we all? She constructed a religion around herself back when she was first turned, and she felt that it worked out really well for her. Of course, it was easier to manipulate ppl back when religion seemed to have more of the answers to all of our questions than science did.
and I feel like the others characters don’t try enough to make her understand this when they’re trying to convice her to stop.
^Keep in mind that the coven were all pretty frustrated at their failed attempts to reason with her, most of their arguments were met with personal attacks or just slippery gaslighting… and they were just on the edge of freaking out bc she can explode most of them with her mind ;A;
Lestat:
Dazed, she looked at me. I could feel death breathing on my face, death close as it had been years and
years ago when the wolves tracked me into the frozen forest, and I couldn’t reach up high enough for the
limbs of the barren trees.
The other characters did try to make her understand, but when someone is consumed by their own ideology, sometimes the only tactic that will work is backing off the issue itself and asking them to take more time to consider their chosen course of action, which may have given the coven more time to educate her or find some common ground on which to build some dialogue… which is what they were all doing.
Maharet says:
“Time,” Maharet said. “Maybe that is what we are asking for. Time. And that is what you have to give.”
…“You have meditated in silence for centuries upon your solutions. What is another hundred years? Surely
you will not dispute that the last century on this earth was beyond all prediction or imagining-and that the
technological advances of that century can conceivably bring food and shelter and health to all the peoples
of the earth.“
“Are you unhappy, darling?” “Oh yes, yes! Completely.”
Month before last someone on my Patreon requested Addams Family AU for the Murder Family and I love it ;w; Will is an ancient warlock full of dark and powerful magic and Hannibal is still a creepy serial killer who can’t get enough of his husband and Abigail is their daughter who keeps losing her head~ Extra points if you recognize Thing~
That’s a great quote, anon, and a very good question *u*
[^by @garama and the illustration is more appropriate than you think; they are probably slinging insults back and forth telepathically!]
This quote was actually Armand talking to Lestat about Gabrielle and Nicolas (Lestat had not even met Louis and Claudia yet), and how foolish it was for Lestat to expect either of them to actually want to stay with him. AS IF?! We as readers also add in the fact that it could apply to Louis and Claudia, since we already know that further down the line, yes, they will choose to leave their maker.
Armand’s point is that no matter carefully chosen, every fledgling will inevitably leave their maker. The quote actually begins with: “Each time the death and the awakening will ravage the mortal spirit,” and then he goes into more reasons why the fledglings and makers end up parting. Gabrielle left because she wanted something Lestat couldn’t give her. Nicolas left for a number of reasons, some variation of madness could be part of it. Armand speaks with the knowledge of seeing many fledglings made, and he might even feel like he would not have chosen to stay with his own maker forever, if he had had the choice.
When Armand says “And the veil will always come down between you,” that’s about the fact that the telepathic connection that can exist between vampires and mortals
(vampire!Lestat could communicate telepathically with mortal!Gabrielle before she was turned)
will be lost with the Dark Gift*
Armand had it with mortal!Daniel.
It’s a deeply intimate connection and many makers and fledglings mourn its loss.
Armand is basically saying that you can turn however many mortals into vampires you want, but due to the act of turning a new vampire, you can’t keep them as a companion. The best and most true companionship is in finding other vampires who were turned by others. There are many reasons for finding a prefabricated vampire to love, but a major one is that the telepathic connection with them will still be possible!
*At least one fic writer, @vampchronfic, has L/L finding ways to chip away and even dissolve this limitation, and it’s bound them closer together, unlike any other ship in VC.
I don’t think that’s a paradox at all! Gabrielle could have a lab somewhere in a rural little town, w/ internet access and equipment to study whatever natural phenomena she likes, and I bet she would have preferences for sleeping in different kinds of soil, the different textures and scents. Maybe with the vampire Eleni at her side…
She loves the act of climbing out of the earth every night, like a plant pushing it’s way up, killing her breakfast, and then rinsing off in a stream or waterfall…
♛I’m excited for the new movie, Louis not as much… he doesn’t think we should be drawing more attention to ourselves, but why didn’t they just cast me? Creative license, I suppose. As for actors to play us, I’m open to anyone. I actually suggested that Louis play Nicolas, since they’re doing my story first, but he’s not so keen on the idea for whatever reason… I don’t see the issue, we could give him brown contact lenses and style his hair differently…
apparently last night at like 4:30 am i started a louis/lestat comic but i have no clue what about because i filled in zero word bubbles except a few cryptic sound effects.
going on expression, body language and my general knowledge of vampire chronicles as a series, lestat was being annoying.