[^Armand nudging Louis into climbing a tower which is not at all some kind of phallic symbolism EMBRACE IT! by @garama]
I have these kinds of questions, too, things that have bothered me for years, I know that feel.
TL;DR: I don’t think the tower that Armand nudges Louis to climb is the same tower as Magnus’ tower. I think Armand has made himself several lairs, maybe bc of his later canon experience that having one lair isn’t all that safe. I don’t think Louis got to visit Magnus’ tower in IWTV.
One reason I think this is that when they get up to the window to let themselves in, it’s a window w/ a sill; Magnus’ tower had barred windows. It’s possible Armand had them changed, but why remove defenses on a such a secure fortress?
“Higher and higher we climbed, until we
had reached the window of the tower itself, which Armand quickly
wrenched open, his long legs disappearing over the sill; and I rose up
after him, feeling his arm out around my shoulders.”
Hit the jump for more.
I don’t think Louis got to visit Magnus’ tower in IWTV.
Why? BC that scene begins w/ Louis and Claudia going w/ Madeleine to burn down her doll shop. After she’s done, M and C run off to celebrate w/ a manicure (or smtg girly? IDK but Louis does not seem to be invited) and Louis goes off w/ Armand. They take off powerwalking towards the Seine:
“We were walking together now, fast, nearing the Seine,”
They come to some kind of older part of town that Louis doesn’t recognize, maybe they’re on the outskirts of the city, but they powerwalked there, didn’t take a carriage:
“I didn’t knew where we were now, only that in my wanderings I’d
passed here before: a street of ancient mansions, of garden walls and
carriage doors and towers overhead and windows of leaded glass
beneath stone arches. Houses of other centuries, gnarled trees, that
sudden thick and silent tranquility which means that the masses are
shut out; a handful of mortals inhabit this vast region of highceilinged
rooms; stone absorbs the sound of breathing, the space of whole lives.”
Here’s the tower:
“…
Above, I could see story
after story rising to a lone tower that barely emerged from the dark,
teeming rain. ‘Listen to me; we are going to climb to the tower,’ Armand was saying.”
Armand says, Don’t acknowledge it if the ppl see you or you’ll fuck this up for me, n00b:
“
‘But note
this. The inhabitants of this house have known me far a hundred years
and think me a spirit; so if by chance they see you, or you see them
through those windows, remember what they believe you to be and
show no consciousness of them lest you disappoint them or confuse
them. Do you hear? You are perfectly safe.’ ”
So I don’t think it’s that far outside the city.
Whereas, in the Vampire Lestat, when Lestat’s looking out the window of the cell in Magnus’ tower:
“It was evening. And through a wide, heavily barred stone
window I saw hills and woods, blanketed with snow, and the vast tiny
collection of rooftops and towers that made up the city far away. I
hadn’t seen it like this since the day I came in the post carriage…
Battlements. I opened my eyes again. And I knew I was lying
in a high tower room several miles from Paris.”
Lestat doesn’t mention that there’s anything around that tower except a little village he explores some distance away, when he’s an orphan wandering around alone.
The one issue w/ my theory that it’s not Magnus’ tower is that Lestat also says there are no higher towers.
Louis, IWTV: “… Above, I could see story after story rising to a lone tower that barely emerged from the dark,”
Lestat, TVL: “I ran to the edge of the roof and
looked down. Nothing but a sheer drop of hundreds of feet, and then
to another edge and it was exactly the same. I almost fell! I turned
desperate, panting. We were on the top of some square tower, no
more than fifty feet across! And I could see nothing higher in any
direction.”
^But I don’t think Lestat’s on Magnus’ tower yet, bc that’s the night he’s kidnapped, and maybe Magnus made a stopover for a quick bite first. So I’m sticking with my theory that Louis didn’t visit Magnus’ tower in IWTV w/ Armand.
Some work in progress! Here some samples of the animatic I am working on, I love the song “I’ll never have that chance” which Elton John wrote for the musical of Lestat. If I ever finish it I am going to post it here :3
Tom riding his horse through the slaves’ fire, and then turning the horse around so that he could face the suspicious mortals. That was on a par with Errol Flynn and Rudy Valentino. It was on a par with the opera greats who have played Mephistopheles. Only a genuine “star” can make a moment like that, and I’m as confused as to why… just as much as anyone in Hollywood. Let’s close this one out with one word: Grand! (No, can’t stop talking about it.)
If I had to settle for one picture in this film, it would be that shot of Lestat on horseback looking back at the suspicious mortals.
That was and is my hero. That was and is my man. Lestat just won’t be afraid of anybody. He won’t stand for it. He hates what he is as much as Louis, but he cannot do anything but move forward, attempt to make existence worth it, attempt to create. He knows the formula for success, and has no patience with the formula for failure. That’s Lestat.”
I-want-my-IWTV 