I was digging around in my archive bc I was SURE I had ONE fanart of Louis and Claudia fighting with the European zombpire, but I canāt find it :[ Maybe someone else knows of it?Ā
Have this, anyway, at least this creature doesnāt have to waste money on lipstick, no lips!: [X]
[Iām re-reading the original trilogy (IWTV, TVL, QoTD), and I was wondering if any of the later books ever talk about the revenant Louis meets in Transylvania with Claudia? Is it ever explained? What do you think caused it?]
I donāt think those European zombpires
are ever explicitly explained in the first 3 books or mentioned in later canon (except in a vague way in TVL by Armand and Marius, quotes further down this post). I might be wrong. If they are mentioned in canon again, I donāt think it was explained what they are :-
TL;DR: The Dark Gift is not an exact science. Your theory could be right! Personally, I donāt think the zombpires share the same origin story as the conscious vampires in VC. Some fans think AR included the
zombpires
as a way to sort of low-key slam the older vampire mythos, since her vampires are SOOO much betterā¦ with no issues with crucifixes, having reflections, etc.!Ā
I donāt think we know enough about the zombpires to say definitively how theyāre made, so itās kind of up for grabs in that sense. However each reader sees it! Your theory about the mortals closing their minds during the Dark Trick could be the answer!
If a mortal was deliberately closing their mind to a vampire intent on turning them, thus locking the vampiric parasite out of their head/memoriesā¦ that could be a reason for the mortal MIND not accepting the vampiric parasite, resulting in THE BODY turning, but NOT the mind, the mortal LOSING their mind to madness, having lost control of their body, thus, zombpire. Quite possible! Would random mortals know how to do this? Could be an unconscious defense mechanism? Maybe!
Hit the jump for more on this, cut for length and/or spoilers.
[My personal theory is that when a vampire makes someone with their mind closed (the way we know some can do), it results in a revenant, as all the making-scenes in the series describe sharing memories and emotions; it seems pretty vital!]
Thatās possible, in VC context, closing oneās mind is smtg you do to protect your mind from being read by others, and it takes practice and skill. Talamasca members seem trained to do it.Ā
Refusing the Dark Gift or accepting it, a strong will to live does seem to be a necessary element. Even the vampires who were turned against their will (Lestat, Marius, etc.) actively refused it right up until their last breaths, but that shows a strong will to live, not a closed-off mind. Just in IWTV:
Lestat tells Louis to be still and listen for their blood flow, keep his consciousness during the process: āIt is your consciousness, your will, which must keep you alive.āā
Learning from this, Louis tells Madeleine to keep her will to live, ā" `Hold fast to me when I take you,ā I said to her, seeing her eyes grow wide, her mouth open. `And when the swoon is strongest, listen all the harder for the beating of my heart. Hold and say over and over,ā I will live. ā āā
And other Dark Gift scenes have some variations on that, I think.Ā
In IWTV, Claudia is fascinated by the European zombpires, tries to puzzle them out, sheās considering how much blood needs to be exchanged and how strong the heart of the mortal is:
āBut Claudiaās waking thoughts were of a far more practical nature. Over and over, she had me recount that night in the hotel in New Orleans when sheād become a vampire, and over and over she searched the process for some clue to why these things we met in the country graveyards had no mind.
ā¦ Ā ā `After all, what does it take to make those creatures?ā she went on. `Those vagabond monsters? How many drops of your blood intermingled with a manās blood ā¦ and what kind of heart to survive that first attack?ā
But how would his blood get into them? Heād have to have an open wound, idk, it seems kind of awkward to imagine Louis accidentally turning any of his victims, and it makes him super uncomfortable to talk about it with her.
Later in canon we see vampires giving drops of their blood to mortals to heal them or as a sensual gesture, and those mortals arenāt given enough to turn them, so that little isnāt enough to make a zombpire.
Claudia seems to think itās really about the strength of the heart of the victim:
ā `That pale-faced Emily, that miserable Englishman ā¦ā she said, oblivious to the flicker of pain in my face. `Their hearts were nothing, and it was the fear of death as much as the drawing of blood that killed them. The idea killed them. But what of the hearts that survive? Are you sure you havenāt fathered a league of monsters who, from time to time, struggled vainly and instinctively to follow in your footsteps? What was their life span; these orphans you left behind you-a day there, a week here, before the sun burnt them to ashes or some mortal victim cut them down?ā
^This seems to fit in line with the needing a strong will to live.Ā
The Children of Darkness chose their fledglings with care, and even then itās unpredictable.Ā Armand in TVL:
But let Armand understand here also that the effect of the Dark Trick is unpredictable, even when passed on by the very young vampire and with all due care. For reasons no one knows, some mortals when Born to Darkness become as powerful as Titans, others may be no more than corpses that move. That is why mortals must be chosen with skill. Those with great passion and indomitable will should be avoided as well as those who have none.
Marius confirms this, still in TVL:
But no matter, only so many children can be made by one in a century. And new offspring will be weak. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The rule of the old covens had wisdom in it that strength should come with time. And then again, there is the old truth: you might make titans or imbeciles, no one knows why or how.
Nicolas might have become such a zombpire, the way he was barely functional as a fledgling at first.Ā
By midnight it was clear that [Nicolas] would notĀ speak or answer to any voice, or move of his own volition. HeĀ remained still and expressionless in the places to which he was taken.Ā If the death pained him he gave no sign. If the new vision delightedĀ him, he kept it to himself. Not even the thirst moved him. And it wasĀ Gabrielle who, after studying him quietly for hours, took him in hand,Ā cleaning him and putting new clothes on him. – TVL
^But he does move when prodded and Lestat thinks Gabrielle can telepathically communicate with him, which makes him more functional than the European zombpires. Lestat is finally able to rouse him with the violin, so was Nicolas just refusing to talk, etc, or was he really unable? We donāt know.
//Hey thanks so much for the birthday wishes and such a great question!
GOD I love Louis for so many different reasons and could really go on for days lmao but I think the main reason I love Louis so much is that he reminds me why humanity and life is so precious. Iāve always found his character interesting because as one of the firstĀ āreluctant vampireā tropes, he was vampire I was introduced to who had a moral compass.Ā
This is going to sound a little weird and maybe a bit narcissistic, but for my job training, I had to take this personality test called the Clifton Strengths Analysis test, which will tell you what your strongest personal and leaderships skills are. My number oneĀ āstrengthā was empathy. And while I wasnāt thrilled to have empathy as my strongest quality, Iāve actually learned to love it, through learning how Louis utilizes this quality throughout the series.
When we first meet Louis, he is the personification of guilt because of what happened with his brother, but that guilt sticks with him throughout his transformation, and it becomes incredibly important as he attempts to navigate the new world as a transcended being. He is conflicted as hell, and insists on punishing himself via starvation because he is so heartsick and guilty and full of grief both for his brother, and for his humanity. When he is first turned, the empathy that he possesses doesnāt exactly work in his favor. He is overly empathetic, and refuses to take life because he empathizes too much with everyone (this is doubly hard considering that he does not have the mind gift, so he cannot weed out the bad seeds from the good ones; he tends to assume most people are innocent, or at least undeserving of death). But as he grows older and begins to figure stuff out, I think he is finally able to sympathize and empathize with humans in a gentler way, and I really admire that. He eventually learns to exist in the world and admire the human beings that he walks amongst, and I love that about him. In fact, one of my favorite moments in the series is when he stands up to Akasha and says:Ā
āThen kill me! I wish that you would. But donāt kill human beings! Donāt interfere with them. Even if they kill each other! Give them time to see this new vision realized; give the cities of the West, corrupt as they may be, time to take their ideals to a suffering and blighted world.ā
He is fiercely attached to the human race, even though he is no longer a part of it, and heās even willing to risk his life for them.Ā
Another of my favorite things about Louis is that heās ridiculously complex and dichotomous as a character, which makes him super interesting in my eyes. You know that phrase:Ā āIām lover, not a fighter, but Iāll still kick your assā? Yeah, thatās Louis. Like I said earlier, heās very empathetic and intuitive and emotional, and he purposefully remains the weakest vampire and rejects the vampiric gifts because he wants to remain as close to being human as possible. Yet his determination in fighting the vampiric gifts makes him incredibly strong in a different way, and I really admire that.Ā Louis, unlike Lestat, Armand, Marius, and most of the main characters of the series, has never went under ground. He has stayed alive and sentient for two and a half centuries without needing a break. His stamina and stubbornness are incredible, and yet when people think of Louis, these usually arenāt the first qualities that come to mind. Louis is a Romantic, melancholic beauty, sure, but heās also like a great oak tree: strong and solid and unyielding.Ā
And at the end of the day, heās a straight up ruthless killer. We see this in his treatment of not only Lestat, but Armandās entire coven. And while these were killings of passion, it is also evident that he is a meticulous and heartless killer when it comes to his hunting methods.Ā In fact, one of my favorite moments in the series is when the Queen of the Damned herself calls him out and says: āYet you yourself are the most predatory of all the immortals here. You kill without regard for age or sex or will to live.āĀ So how can someone so full of emotion and empathy kill so carelessly?Ā I think the answer lies in the fact that he does not have the mind gift, and has never willingly accepted or used it, so he cannot pick out the āevildoersā like the others, and therefore must kill indiscriminately. But one thing that I also headcanon is that because Louis is so constantly tormented by guilt and overwhelmed by emotions, he could never sustain himself if he didnāt have some way to switch the emotions off; heād be too drained to do anything (in fact, we even see this scenario play out in his first few years when heās feeding on chickens and rats). So he eventually learns how to switch those emotions off when he hunts. Itās a defense mechanism. And while it ensures his survival, it also makes him dangerous as fuck, because that means he can switch of his empathy and love for mankind like a fucking light switch.
ANYWAY, I think my main love for Louis can be summed up in this description of him by Lestat:
āJust a little blood, and Louis might be stronger, true, but then he might lose the human tenderness, the human wisdom ā¦ the gift of knowing othersā suffering with which Louis had probably been bornā
TL;DR: I love Louis because he is so complex and though he is the most human-like vampire who possesses an aching tenderness and erudite nature that speaks to my very soul, he is also a dangerous badass whose moral stance is highly debatable. I love all sides of him!!
For my Lestat and Louis muses, yes, they do know the VC books/movies exist. I think most VC RP muses know the VC books/movies exist, including the other adaptions. There were official graphic novels of the 90ā²s,Ā Claudiaās Story (the graphic novel of IWTV from Claudiaās POV), and the Lestat musical.
If you say youāve only finished one book, youād have to specify which book.
They tend to tease eachother about the casting choices or acting of their characters in the films.Ā
Armand about Lestat:Ā āTom captured your obnoxious attitude perfectly. I almost forgot it wasnāt actually you on screen.ā
Lestat about Armand: *huffs* āAt least I was played by someone who resembles me.ā
[X] In canon, the vampires havenāt mentioned any of the movies or graphic novel adaptations, but the books themselves are acknowledged as existing. Some in-universe characters take them as bibles, others laugh at them as cheesy or awful fiction.
I-want-my-IWTV 