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What if Claudia wasn’t killed by the Parisian coven. Would Louis leave her for Armand anyways? Would she and Madeleine be happy together? Bc I feel like her searching for answers was her equivalent of teenage years, she was angry with the world. But towards the end she has accepted that not all her questions have answers and she seems less frustrated with her condition, for me this is when she reaches adulthood. My poor baby didn’t have the oportunity to leave her own life and be genuinely happy

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-My poor baby didn’t have the oportunity to leave her own life and be genuinely happy- 

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Actually, in the first version of IWTV, Claudia wasn’t killed off by the Parisian coven (from the Vampire Companion):

“In the first version of [IWTV], Claudia eventually goes off with three vampire brothers whom she meets in Paris. She does not die. As such, it was as if Rice had attempted to give her daughter a form of immortality. Rice, however, experienced psychological problems that cleared up only after she had rewritten the ending – by killing off Claudia and taking Louis through an experience of intense grieving. This version was much more cathartic for Rice.”

One could say that killing her off for the sake of Louis’ development was harsh, and it is known as the Stuffed into the Fridge trope. Just bc it’s a trope doesn’t make it any less effective, tho! 

“A character is killed off in a particularly gruesome manner and left to be found just to offend or insult someone, or to cause someone serious anguish. The usual victims are those who matter to the hero, specifically best buddies, love interests, and sidekicks.”

-What if Claudia wasn’t killed by the Parisian coven. Would Louis leave her for Armand anyways?-

That was his intention, that she was satisfied with her new companion and that he would still see them, still communicate with her. You don’t go through that kind of relationship (I think the word “beloved” in movie!IWTV was perfect, bc they’re closer to eachother than those in a brother-sister or father-daughter relationship). 

Louis always wanted to see Claudia happy and satisfied, and he beat himself up a lot for his failures in that. When it became clear that he was torn between her and Armand, it was Claudia who brought Madeleine into the picture and it was only after a lot of argument (and Armand’s influence, which Armand admitted to later) that Louis gave in to Claudia’s request to turn Madeleine for Claudia.

Louis and Claudia’s last real conversation in IWTV together was about this (under the cut, for length, abbreviated here), and you can see that they’re both not thrilled with the separation but that it has to happen.

Claudia: But do you
truly understand what you are choosing in Armand?

Louis: It’s meant to be. It’s almost
that sort of direction… He alone can give me the strength to be
what I am. I can’t continue to live divided and consumed with misery.
Either I go with him, or I die. And it’s something else, which is
irrational and unexplainable and which satisfies only me…

Claudia: Which is?

Louis: That I love him

Claudia: No doubt you do, but then, you could love even me.

Louis: Claudia, Claudia.

Claudia: I only hope that when you have need of me, you can find me… That I can get back to you… I’ve hurt you so often,
I’ve caused you so much pain.‘ 

-Would she and Madeleine be happy together?-

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[^X from Claudia’s Story]

Possibly a very unpopular opinion but: I don’t think Madeleine and Claudia were sexual w/ each other in the mortal sense, but there was more to them than a mother-daughter relationship. So Yes, I think she and Madeleine could have been happy together in a way that was impossible for Claudia and Louis.

I don’t think Claudia’s pursuit of Madeleine was purely for a platonic mother-daughter relationship. That may have been part of it, and it was how she sold it to Louis because he couldn’t perceive Claudia as more than his daughter or as an adult trapped in a little body who would be capable of being involved in a romantic way with anyone, and she needed him to actually do the work for her since she was unable to perform the Dark Gift herself (and I do think she tried before asking him).  

While it may not have been a relationship in a more conventionally romantic sense (I don’t believe they had anything sexual, in the mortal sense, going on), I do think Claudia/Madeleine was a ship of sorts, more of an emotional relationship. Claudia was the one in control, she was comparatively older and stronger in personality.

Hit the jump, cut for length.

-Bc I feel like her searching for answers was her equivalent of teenage years, she was angry with the world.-  

She had every right to be angry! Not their intention, but her “parents” condemned her to an eternity of body dysmorphia and being perceived as smtg she was not, potentially worse than death. Similar things happen in real life, too, ppl are born with syndromes that cause them to appear “disfigured” or “underdeveloped” to society at large, and they too, may be angry with the world or their own parents for that. Teenagers going through puberty AND adults long past that phase can have body horror and be frustrated that their external physical vessels do not match who they are inside. From what I understand of it, there are many forms of body dysphoria.

Even w/o the body issues, she still would have sought answers to the questions Louis had asked. He didn’t seem to have any body dysphoria but he had plenty of questions beyond any equivalent of a teenage phase. They were both extremely frustrated at the lack of answers.

-But towards the end she has accepted that not all her questions have answers and she seems less frustrated with her condition, for me this is when she reaches adulthood.-

That’s life! Not all of our questions will be answered, but she at least seemed to have achieved some inner peace with not having the answers.

She may have reached adulthood long before that, when she decided to assassinate Lestat for his treatment of her. She wanted revenge on the world, so she took it out on the one who seemed most responsible for her existence. That seems like an adult decision to me, to kill the person who gave you life. But then, she may not have been physiologically capable of ever “reaching adulthood” since the human brain doesn’t finish development until around 20-25 yrs old [X].

Louis and Claudia’s

last real conversation in IWTV together:

“`But do you truly understand what you are choosing in Armand?’ [Claudia said.] I turned away from her. There was something stubborn and mysterious in her dislike of [Armand], in her failure to understand him. She would say again that he wished her death, which I did not believe. She didn’t realize what I realized: he could not want her death, because I didn’t want it. But how could I explain this to her without sounding pompous and blind in my love of him. `It’s meant to be. It’s almost that sort of direction,’ I said, as if it were just coming clear to me under the pressure of her doubts. `He alone can give me the strength to be what I am. I can’t continue to live divided and consumed with misery. Either I go with him, or I die,’ I said. `And it’s something else, which is irrational and unexplainable and which satisfies only me… ‘ “

`Which is?’ she asked.

`That I love him,’ I said.

`No doubt you do,’ she mused. `But then, you could love even me.’ ”

`Claudia, Claudia.’ I held her close to me, and felt her weight on my knee. She drew up close to my chest. “

`I only hope that when you have need of me, you can find me …’ she whispered. `That I can get back to you … I’ve hurt you so often, I’ve caused you so much pain.’ Her words trailed off. She was resting still against me. I felt her weight, thinking, In a little while, I won’t have her anymore. I want now simply to hold her. There has always been such pleasure in that simple thing. Her weight against me, this hand resting against my neck.

I thought of something the other day. Almost everything (not really, maybe half of everything)that’s happening in the VC is because Lestat wasn’t given a choice. He says it a lot and until recently I was joking “HA, you call Louis a cry baby, but concerning the way Marius made you, you’re forever complaining.” But wait a second. It’s much more than a complaint, isn’t it? If he WAS given a choice, half of the things in VC wouldn’t have happened. All the vampires that he created wouldn’t be there.

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Your question… is it a question? I’m so confused. You say Marius is Lestat’s maker and maybe that’s a typo, or maybe you accept movie!QOTD as canon, either way, it’s not my headcanon.

Lestat gave Louis the choice to be a vampire, because when Lestat was forced by Magnus into being a vampire, that was essentially a form of rape. Lestat tells Nicolas (TVL): 

“When it was offered me I said no. I tell you I said no. With my last breath, I said no.” 

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The ramifications of rape are many and I won’t go into detail here, but it had an enormous impact on Lestat’s well-being, and in his relationships with everyone in his afterlife. 

Lestat wanted Louis to choose it, to WANT to be a vampire, he wanted it to be consensual, to spare Louis the damage of what Lestat had to deal with.

When Lestat teases Louis about his “whining,” it’s partly out of frustration; he saw in Louis a kindred spirit, and in book!IWTV he explained that killing was part of the deal, and Louis accepted the Dark Gift but then, fledgling!Louis was aghast at taking human life! In later canon, Louis’ “whining” is actually just putting up any rational resistance at Lestat’s ideas for adventure. 

VC itself was born from Lestat not having a choice when Magnus forced him into vampirism, in the sense that none of the books would have been written if Lestat had chosen NOT to become a vampire. If Lestat had died the night that Magnus kidnapped him, or been released and died later, as a mortal, he wouldn’t have turned any fledglings, Louis wouldn’t have been a vampire in the 1970s to be interviewed, Louis probably would have succeeded in killing himself over his remorse about the death of his brother… there would be no IWTV, no TVL,… 

But Armand would still have existed, as would Marius, and others who existed long before Lestat’s mortal birth. Maybe VC would have been about them.

What do you think about Jamie Campbell Bower to play Lestat? I think he’s somewhat perfect – and he can sing! He’s got the hair too (sometimes!).

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JCB was a somewhat popular FC for Lestat RPers at one time, so your opinion is/was shared by others!

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^He already played a vampire in Twilight, but I didn’t see that… Idk if he’d be willing to play another vampire. He looks good in period costume, I’ll admit that, and the makeup/hair team really transformed him. This is 100% better vampiry appearance than QOTD!Lestat (but that’s setting the bar preeeetty low, ROFL).

Personally, I find JCB too thin, so bony, such angular features… but I haven’t seen his acting so it’s unfair to judge him just superficially. He has a lot of theatre experience and he seems quite charming from his quotes on his IMDB page. He might be great! I would definitely screen-test him if I was in charge of things.

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[^X I will say that these are some excellent silly faces and our Lestat has to be able to pull of his easy sense of humor, too!] 

The fact is, we all have our own ideals of beauty and our own headcanon of these characters. It’s highly unlikely that one actor will satisfy all of our expectations, and @cdf-archive (now @coeur-de-feu) was a Lestat RPer who used JCB as a FC, and they wrote up a great post about JCB as Lestat [X], excerpt below: 

“There will always be inconsistencies, everywhere you look. But it’s not really even whether or not I find him perfect. It’s his imperfections that make him perfect, to me. And perhaps that’s what Magnus found in Lestat – his imperfections gave him an indescribable yet authentic beauty and Magnus wanted to immortalize those features by turning Lestat into a vampire, even though Lestat did not want it. It was okay with Magnus that Lestat had a few things here and there that weren’t completely perfect; he found him extraordinarily beautiful, regardless.”

#Eloquent eloquence

Also, check out @cdf-archive’s actual archive to see more pics of JCB, some of them are good promos in a VC-aesthetic which you might like! 

Confession: When I first saw and later read IWTV, I didn’t think that Lestat and Louis were a couple. I understood they had a relationship that was complicated and deep on many levels, but I thought it was because of the whole turning into vampire and living together for many years thing, not romantical or sexual.

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Well… your message sat in my inbox for 5 days bc this is a question every reader has to answer for themselves. It partly depends on how much canon you’ve read. 

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[^X “I love him in ways that I can’t explain to other people. They don’t understand… it’s not their fault.” is that not canon?!]

IWTV is Louis’ account of their time in that era, and as @vraik​ astutely pointed out, Louis admits that he’s holding back information when he says “If I held something too close for you to ask about it, I would not bring it up in the first place.” Lestat says as much near the end of TVL, that Louis left many things out. *~Unreliable narrators!~*

And movie!IWTV had even less of what Louis says in the book, because it had to be edited for the sake of time… many scenes in the book were not in the movie. Also, it was made in the early 90′s, keep in mind that it pushed the envelope for its time re: showing any homosexuality.

tl;dr: I ship Louis/Lestat, I don’t need to define my ship as romantic, sexual, or platonic, etc. I just hardcore ship them TOGETHER.

Hit the jump for more, cut for length.

While they don’t “date” in canon, Louis talks about Lestat in IWTV with a lot of fascination, and later, Lestat writes about Louis with a lot of fascination, too (more, really!)… and they don’t actually kiss in canon until the 3rd book, right before Lestat’s big concert, and then they’re separated again soon after. It’s a ship that takes alot of Read Between the Lines.

Most of the vampires who are turned in canon are turned bc their makers love them so much that they can’t let their loved one be perishable any longer. Whatever Louis’ perception was of IWTV!Lestat, it seems clear to many of the fandom that Lestat chose Louis for more than his wealth and/or friendship, and that now, in later canon, the feelings between them are mutual.

AR answered this in 2014 when she was answering #Fan Questions for Lestat, in which she RP’d Lestat admitting that Louis would be his “Forever Companion.”

There was an article out in 2012 that had some varied comments worth reading about it: Anne Rice confirms that the vampires Louis and Lestat are a same-sex couple with a child. 

io9: There’s the concept of Louis and Lestat as Claudia’s “parents,” which we see in the novel, movie and now in the graphic novel. When you know the narrative, it’s not quite the modern statement it could appear to be visually, in the adaptation. Are you okay with that as an idea for the new century?

AR: Sure! [Laughs] Sure! I never thought of it, they were the first vampire same-sex parents.

io9: I had wondered if that had been a thought on your mind before.

AR: No.

io9: That’s the way that it seems to be shown, it’s very much “she’s our daughter now.” So I can say, they’re a same-sex couple with children?

AR: Absolutely! Claudia! She’s their daughter.

My additions to one of the comments is pretty funny and you should check it out bc hey, you’ve read this far so? KILL MORE TIME.

I’ve heard people complain about Anne being really inconsistent with the continuance of the VC storylines, as in, she can’t keep the story straight to save her life. I personally haven’t noticed but maybe you have?

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Yes, we have a series of #unreliable narrators in the VC who tell the stories from their experiences, and their “facts” don’t always align. 

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[^X Remember these Social Network posters I did? I REMEMBER THEM]

There are many examples of canon “facts” being different in different books. One of the best examples of this is whether Louis visited Lestat sometime after he burned down the Theatre des Vampires, but before his interview w/ Daniel. Lestat says it didn’t happen. 

Lestat acknowledges that IWTV was inaccurate but he doesn’t hold it against Louis: 

“But this is the tale that was told by Louis in Interview with the Vampire, which for all its contradictions and terrible misunderstandings manages to capture the atmosphere in which Claudia and Louis and I came together and stayed together for sixty-five years.

… As for the lies he told, the mistakes he made, well, I forgive him his excess of imagination, his bitterness, and his vanity, which was, after all, never very great. 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. ”

When ppl complain about the storylines/facts being inconsistent, well, I can only remind them that she wrote the books in the order in which she was exploring her characters. Did some things get lost or confused along the way? YES. I don’t read other series, so I can’t say that there is – or should be – a standard to which we hold authors and expect them to have consistent storylines/facts.

But from what I know of the Bible, considered a sacred canon by many ppl worldwide, even that text has unreliable narrators describing scenes which vary to the point of discrepancy. 

I understand that inconsistencies can pierce the delicate suspension of disbelief for some readers. The seeming concerted deviation from the pre-established VC verse is a major reason why it’s impossible for me (and others) to accept PL in its entirety. So I know that feel, bro!

Basically what I’m saying is that the #unreliable narrator excuse quiets this type of confusion for me, for the information that I accept as canon.

Hey, sorry if this is out the blue but have you come across to as to why Anne started writing about witches? Since the vampire for her is used as a metaphor for the other & I wondered what the witch is for her.

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It’s ok, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t know the Mayfair Witch series very well, I read it a long time ago, and I read the “hybrid” novels where it crossed over into the VC verse… 

I don’t know of a blogger who focuses on that series who might be able to answer that for you, but there is the official Ricean Witch book about it:

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The Witches’ Companion by Katherine Ramsland & Anne Rice

It was published in ‘96 though, and idk if there is an updated version which addresses the later books.

I would suggest that AR’s writing the witch series had something to do with:

  • Witches can be considered another “othered” group, like vampires.
  • …because Witches can be scary and they can be very frickin’ cool; what with the supernatural stuff they can do and the way they carry themselves.
  • The fact that AR grew up in New Orleans – a place which has varying degrees of strong belief in voo doo and witches;
  • AR grew up in a religious family; and she also addresses the rejection of witches in TVL and the horror of how innocent lives were lost as a result, so it’s not just about the witches but about how they coexist (or don’t) with society at large.
  • AR also had the Taltos mixed in there, so like her vampire series, she was probably interested in writing stories that had not been told before.

Anyone is welcome to comment/reblog w/ ideas on this!

wellll its better if we dont bring nicolas back. im just sad because i immediately loved his character and. oopsie he was there just to be burned i will never forgive that lmao

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*nods* The fandom takes care of him very well ❤

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[^X Lestat de Valois and Nicolas de Lenfent by @kumiho5]

I think some ppl love Nicolas specifically bc, while he is mentioned, he doesn’t exist in later canon, he’s not as thoroughly explored, there’s more room for the reader to have our own interpretation of him.

As a side note: I really didn’t realize there was so much love for Nicolas until I got on tumblr! I think he represents this generation’s disillusionment with society at large better than Lestat does, Nicolas’ rebellion is a modern-era grunge rebellion, bc he HAS TALENT, and is angry with the way it’s recognized, angry with so much about the way the world runs on autopilot, angry with societal ideals of success. He probably does have some mental issues, too, and I think this generation is more comfortable “coming out” with BPD, or manic-depression, etc. than in 18th century France or at the time TVL was written… with some counseling and/or medication, he might have had a better life. 

@mendedpixie7 put it very well when they wrote about Adam from Only Lovers Left Alive; the similarity to Nicolas seems striking:

The reason I love Only Lovers Left Alive is it shows that a character (Adam) can be severely mentally ill, in this case depressed and suicidal, and still be seen as lovable and capable of being loved and loving in return without being “cured” of their mental illness, and that a mentally ill character can have other attributes aside from being mentally ill while still showing the impact being mentally ill has on his personality.

Adam from OLLA is an extremely important character to me you guys.

Hello there :) I was scrolling through the Nicolas de Lenfent tag and I read again a post with theories :3 With PL we now know the identity of the mysterious musician but I wonder – ok hope, keep fingers crossed – might Anne in all her wisdom broach the subject of Nicolas and maybe, just maybe bring him back in cannon? At this point, I think he would make for some interesting plot for the next books. If Antoine showed, we might still hope Nicolas is somewhere out there.

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[Pretty sure @ioananix is referring to the post @devilsviolinist wrote on Nicki survival theories here. It’s good! Check it out.]

Yep, AR has brought back a bunch of formerly-assumed-to-be-dead characters in PL, so it’s a real possibility!

…However, is this always a good thing? I still don’t like the way the mysterious musician from IWTV was brought back. @antoineandthepiano makes a valiant effort to make that character more likable in their RP of him, but in canon, I don’t feel like this character being brought back adds much to the story or changes the dynamic of the coven much. More thoughts on him under the cut bc I want to get to Nicolas.

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[^X by @vampiredevelopment]

Bring Nicolas back and we might have interesting plot there! So many questions… Did he really intend to kill himself?

Did he intend to fake his suicide? Or did someone try to kill him? Did Eleni know? Was she in on any of this? Is there any possibility of civility between Nicolas and Lestat? The answers to those questions could lead to some great arguments, some great opening of old wounds, some healing, idk, ACTION. FEELS. CATFIGHTS.

There are a bunch of characters brought back in PL so it wouldn’t totally surprise me if AR brought Nicolas back in PLROA… The ones she’s brought back have hardly caused any ripple of conflict in the coven, and some ppl like fluff and peace, maybe some ppl are glad to have their characters back in any form, but it feels like unearned fluff and peace. I’d almost prefer that she leaves characters out rather than bring back such watered-down versions of them.

I feel like that musician character was a draft of Nicolas, and AR forgot about him until PL, or maybe Lestat was so embarrassed by that whole situation that’s why he never mentions him in canon until PL (which, btw, the series was allegedly over with Blood Canticle). “Antoine” comes in all meek and mild, is accepted with hardly any comment, and everything’s peaceful! There’s no real adjustment needed, they’re all fine with the fact that, idk, he tried to kill Louis (and Claudia!) some 150 yrs ago? Too much water under that bridge.

There was a fanfic that suggested the musician vampire rescued Lestat from the swamp and helped him heal well enough so that he could to steal the Dark Gift from him, that would have been a lot more heartbreaking! Taking advantage of Lestat in his weakened condition like that ;A;

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

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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!