[X] Women are so mysterious
Tag Archives: I hate u vampire dad
Lestat can be like a big dumb puppy sometimes, and he also has selective hearing loss. OF COURSE SHE WANTED ANOTHER DOLL like of course she did. Did he consult w/ Louis first? No. No, he did not.
Carrie Seeking Hardly for Sex Now! Click Her
So like, do not click the link, clearly, pornbot, (and grammatically so off that idk if if Carrie is not really interested, it says she’s hardly seeking sex currently, or how I’m supposed to click her, pffft) but of all my posts, THIS is the one that gets this reblog and link, and it gets it often?? This makes no sense to me. WHAT IS PORNOGRAPHIC HERE?? This is like one of the most SFW posts on my entire blog like whaaaat? I AM CONFUSION.
Lestat “A Child Will Fix My Marriage” de Lioncourt
Well, you’re not wrong…
(Digging up an oldie from the archive, wow, this one is almost 4 yrs old, can you believe I’ve been on here over 4 yrs! *keanu reeves voice* woahhh)
[X]
Some thoughts on this under the cut, cut for length.
It is, admittedly, always fun to deride Lestat for this
screwup
decision when Marius (for all his own f*cked-upedness, he does have a little decent advice to give at various points) specifically told him: DO. NOT. TURN CHILDREN. INTO VAMPIRES. EXCEEDINGLY NOT COOL.
In TVL, Lestat says he wanted to do it just because he wanted to see what would happen:
^I don’t think this is the reason (or at least not the MAIN reason), I think this is Lestat’s bravado, and knowing that he’s writing the book FOR LOUIS, really, knowing Louis is going to be reading it, and this is the answer he’s putting out there to make himself look that much more callous, bc the real answer is too painful to share.
Someone (she’s not on tumblr, I’d tag her if she was) once suggested that Lestat made Claudia to keep Louis’ conscience clear; after all, Lestat is essentially ‘saving’ her from death. The line in the movie is, “Your conscience is clear.” If Louis had actually killed a child (a Holy Innocent!) that night, it would have been the worst crime he’d committed in vampiring, and Lestat didn’t want Louis to bear that burden of guilt. Louis might have even felt guilty enough to kill himself over it, also something Lestat did not want to happen.
So I think Lestat would prefer that Louis think of this as just another gross, horrible act to add to the list of gross, horrible things Lestat has done, and he’d prefer that we write him off as an antagonist, which is easier than being confronted with what he does and why he does it.
I know it’s a bit of a reach, but I feel like Lestat admitting that he made a child into a vampire, knowing it was a crime against nature, and condemning her to the body she was turned in, was a sacrifice he made to prevent Louis from bearing the guilt of her death, it’s all too painful, and could invite questions about it, and he just can’t let anyone in that close.
I understand that it’s a very problematic book, but this is also why I can’t throw the entirety of TOBT out, because Claudia comes back to haunt Lestat to confront him with the decision of turning her. He reflects on it off and on throughout the book and finally admits that even knowing what he knows now, he would still do it all over again, and that’s taking into account the joy they all experienced as a little family, but also the pain and suffering she felt as she became aware of the trap of her own body.
takemetocoffin-or-losemeforever:
La vérité sort toujours de la bouche des enfants – [Children tell the truth]
[insp.]
;A;
Did Victor wish you a happy father’s day ? I think you would be the best father on this world Lestat ! Bon baisers de France !
♛Merci for the love from France, I can always use a few extra kisses from that country *smiles*
Viktor sent a card. I should be grateful. But it was most likely from Rose, and he merely signed it along with her, as it had an inside joke between Rose and I. Best father in the world? I think my second – fourth fledglings would beg to differ.
//ooc; mun doesn’t entirely accept PL as canon, but was willing to accept it for this ask 😉
For headcanons and to talk to a Viktor RPer, go to @viktor-de-lioncourt (who uses Jordan Sörbom as a FC) or @roselioncourt, both of whom care quite a lot more than I do about this character.
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.”
[^ 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].
^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”!
Oh my god,Claudia’s face in the movie logo thing just cracks me up. But then I remember why she’s screaming and I’m like “poor baby.”
IKR?! Part of what sets VC above other vampire series for me is that it’s got so much comedy -intentional and unintentional- and so much suffering, too. All mixed in together.
Being an artsy kid is hard.
@sharkdancer submitted a text exchange and this was the piece that worked for me:
Leading the wolf to slaughter
A little breakdown of this scene, re: why I loved Tom’s Lestat so much in this scene, since we’re talking about it.
^Claudia leads him in, and he’s so trusting. When he sees the boys there, he is not immediately very pleased. He actually looks a little disappointed. The house rule is not to bring victims into the house, and she brought them in, is he going to have to lay down the law again? Bad timing for it, since he’s trying to make peace with her.
She glances up at him to gauge his reaction but looks away before he can meet her gaze. She’s thrilled with what she’s about to do and doesn’t want him derailing her from her mission.
^I use this gif a lot for “such feels,” but there’s really more going on here, and not necessarily happiness. She’s told him that the boys are the gift to him. He starts w/ a facepalm, bc, hey, Lestat would actually rather not kill children.* He tries to go for adult evildoers. It’s clearer in TVL than in movie!IWTV, but he does tell Louis in an earlier scene, “Evildoers are easier, and they taste better.”**
Lestat is also very guarded in his body language here, all closed off w/ his arms across his chest (we don’t usually see him this closed off in the movie). When he shows his face, he’s not smiling at first, bc, this wasn’t really the kind of truce he would have wanted. But then he rallies, shakes his head a little bit, and tries to smile, probably tells himself inwardly, “She did this for me, she has good intentions…”
^”Well, you certainly have… outdone yourself,” he says. He’s struggling to compliment her, that hesitation could have led to a criticism. Trying to convince himself that this is a peace offering and to reign in his usual edgy sense of humor. The main rule in their home was always “Never [kill] in the house” and she wants him to share this kill. In. The. House. A rule she’s broken countless times. He’s still guarded, still has his arms up protectively.
The smile fails as he looks over the boys like he’s looking at something unappetizing at a buffet. For me, that would be the wilted salad area.
^There’s a full second pause as he looks at her bc he’s still struggling to believe it was all this easy. Then he asks: “We forgive each other, then?” This is Lestat without any of his bravado, no games, not asking as her maker, just as someone who loves her and wants her love, too. This is the Lestat who spent most of his childhood unloved or beaten down for trying to find a place where ppl would love him ;A;
^There’s almost a full second pause as she looks at him – bc she doesn’t really forgive him – and then says: “Yes” She’s lying right to his face, so evil! If you cover her mouth, her eyebrows don’t change at all with that smile. But there is still a chance to abandon her plan if she wants to.
^Having secured the peace, putting his trust in her about this gift being OK to consume, he has this little sigh of relief; his usual confidence comes back in, you can see a hint of a smile as he turns away.
(This victim is one of the moments in the film that really pushed the envelope for its time, when Lestat bites into the child. It’s actually a lot less homoerotic/pedophilic than in the book, where he gets his hands wrapped up in the kid’s shirt. Unlike when he bites adults and we see his face, here, we see him from behind. It makes it less sexual, he didn’t choose this victim, it’s seems like it’s more about the consumption.)
^Anyway… he thinks she spiked their blood with absinthe bc he immediately feels drugged/drunk from it.
She tells him it’s laudanum, and he repeats that word, has he heard of it before? Probably not, bc she tells him what it does.
So right up until the moment she explicitly lays it out for him, he still believes they’ve reconciled, and even that she flavored the blood for him as an extra consideration! It’s a very painful betrayal, specifically bc he wanted to believe her SO BADLY that he ignored all the red flags ;A;
You could say he deserved this betrayal, but I think this scene is part of what makes Tom’s Lestat so very good. Even as he’s led into getting his punishment, you still feel sorry for him, it’s hard to hate a monster when he’s being this trusting and gentle and really wanting to well… not be a monster.
I recognize that this is a social media site so you are welcome to reblog and comment and engage on this, but please do so respectfully, and keep in mind that #your headcanon may vary, and we are all entitled to our own interpretations/opinions about canon, and about movie!IWTV.
(Asterisked notes under the cut.)
* It’s implied that Lestat and Claudia finished off whole families together in an earlier scene in the film, including children, but we’ve only seen him kill adults on screen up to this point. In the book, it’s Claudia who insists on killing families (her own, IIRC), and she kills a mother and daughter who worked domestically in the flat for Louis and Lestat. Lestat rarely kills children in the books, typically it’s only in moments of extreme emotional weakness.Tom would have known this, bc he read books 1-4.
**
“Evildoers are easier, and they taste better.” – This is what Lestat tells Louis to try to get him to acclimate to the idea that killing is okay, and in fact, some ppl need to be killed anyway, to protect the general population (like Lestat killing the wolves to save the villagers back in the Auvergne). But in the books it’s implied that innocent blood tastes better, which makes it harder to resist. “…these victims had been taken in the perfect semblance of love. The very blood seemed warmer with their innocence, richer with their goodness.” (TVL)
I might do more of these if you’re interested, but they do take a long time to put together. We’ll see…
I-want-my-IWTV 