On the whole pronunciation of Lestat (LestAHt vs Lesaught) my theory is that it’s both. If we accept Lestat’s story from Blackwood Farm that his parents made up his name from the first letters of his brothers’ names, then maybe they never came up with an exact way to pronounce it. Maybe Gabrielle always called him by one, while his father would use the other. This has led to Lestat changing up they way he introduces himself for 250 years.
//or maybe they just called him “you” since their relationship wasn’t too… affective
^Ya, I like all this. I don’t LOVE Blackwood Farm but that explanation is as good as any. I’m sure his family called him all kinds of bad stuff including purposely
making
his name sound bad, and yes, maybe they never came up with a specific way to pronounce it. I think part of his self-deprecation comes from getting so little affection in his formative years, and not even having a consistently pronounced name is pretty mean ;A;
Anyone can pronounce his name however they want, I think he would be pretty chill about that. Especially considering that people have native accents that affect their pronunciation of words anyway, given how much international travel/business/etc. he does, I don’t think he’d be making an issue with every single person he encounters about the pronunciation of his name.
AR had intended to write his name as “Lestan” after her husband “Stan” + the French word for “the” which is “Le” when preceding masculine words. She’s said that “Lestat” was a typo that she ended up liking.
ANYWAY, since “Stan” is pronounced like “stand” and not “ton” my preference is to go with the ‘a’ of Lestat as like “stand” or “cat.” I kinda feel like AR’s whole obsession with pronouncing it like “Les-TOT” is another way she divides the “real fans” from the rest of the fans; if you don’t pronounce it her preferred way then you’re not really talking about HER character. But that’s just a theory.
I headcanon that Lestat likes nicknames based on his name, especially “’Stat,” a medical term: “Stat, used as a directive to medical personnel during in an emergency situation, is from the Latin word statim, which means “instantly” or “immediately.”” [X]
I always figured when Anne says “lesTOT” she’s just trying to write/say it in a way that – based on American English vowel pronunciations – approximates European [a], which is much closer to what English has in e.g. “father”, and kinda close to what American English has in “tot”, since that’s the sound it would have been in French. A French person would not say [lestæt] like “cat”.
Personally I like the more French/European pronunciation over the American [lestæt], because I’m not an English speaker, so I’m used to European pronunciation. And I’m not sure he would have Anglified his first name that much. But in the end it just comes down to how much you think he’s “gone native” tbh. But ya after 200 years in the US I doubt he minds people pronouncing his name the English way.
Tag Archives: Lestat de Lioncourt
In Blackwood Farm, Lestat says his name is “compounded of the first letter of each of my six older brothers’ names.” Is that true? Whose brilliant idea was that? Were you that disinterested in choosing an actual name for him?
-sighs-
This is a falsehood.
When he was very young, his brothers (not known for their kindness), told him this story. They made it quite clear to him that his parents, having no love left for him after six children, took the laziest route possible in naming him.
This is, of course, an utter lie. I’ve already told the story here of Lestat’s naming—and I’ve also explained this to him many times (he tends to accept this story as a part of his own mythology, unfortunately).
He does, from time to time, need reminding that his name, just like my love for him, was not accidental in nature. He is, and ever will be, my Lestat. Thus I named him, and thus I keep him.
And his brothers are dead. So there’s that.
(he tends to accept this story as a part of his own mythology, unfortunately).He picks and chooses his own mythology, for SURE.
“Lestat’s name doesn’t mean anything. It is a name that I made up. I search hard and long for names that are unique, and Lestat is, in a way, a mistake. There is an old French name in Louisiana, “Lestan”, and my husband’s name is Stan, and I thought I was using the old French name when I wrote Lestat . It was only later that I realized I had added a “t” for an “n”, and created a name that didn’t exist, so you might call it a Freudian slip. Lestat was definitely like Stan. His self confidence, his blonde hair, his blue eyes, his feline grace — all of that was inspired by my husband, Stan. So maybe it means ‘the Stan’.“
– Anne Rice (Source X)
On the whole pronunciation of Lestat (LestAHt vs Lesaught) my theory is that it’s both. If we accept Lestat’s story from Blackwood Farm that his parents made up his name from the first letters of his brothers’ names, then maybe they never came up with an exact way to pronounce it. Maybe Gabrielle always called him by one, while his father would use the other. This has led to Lestat changing up they way he introduces himself for 250 years.
//or maybe they just called him “you” since their relationship wasn’t too… affective
^Ya, I like all this. I don’t LOVE Blackwood Farm but that explanation is as good as any. I’m sure his family called him all kinds of bad stuff including purposely
making
his name sound bad, and yes, maybe they never came up with a specific way to pronounce it. I think part of his self-deprecation comes from getting so little affection in his formative years, and not even having a consistently pronounced name is pretty mean ;A;
Anyone can pronounce his name however they want, I think he would be pretty chill about that. Especially considering that people have native accents that affect their pronunciation of words anyway, given how much international travel/business/etc. he does, I don’t think he’d be making an issue with every single person he encounters about the pronunciation of his name.
AR had intended to write his name as “Lestan” after her husband “Stan” + the French word for “the” which is “Le” when preceding masculine words. She’s said that “Lestat” was a typo that she ended up liking.
ANYWAY, since “Stan” is pronounced like “stand” and not “ton” my preference is to go with the ‘a’ of Lestat as like “stand” or “cat.” I kinda feel like AR’s whole obsession with pronouncing it like “Les-TOT” is another way she divides the “real fans” from the rest of the fans; if you don’t pronounce it her preferred way then you’re not really talking about HER character. But that’s just a theory.
I headcanon that Lestat likes nicknames based on his name, especially “’Stat,” a medical term: “Stat, used as a directive to medical personnel during in an emergency situation, is from the Latin word statim, which means “instantly” or “immediately.”” [X]
Yeah um I already played out this confrontation like 10 times in my head so if you could stick to the script I imagined for you, that’d be great, thanks. [X]
My heart is yours – Lestat x Louis ( fanart © malisvaart )
I stopped. I put my arm around him. I held him close to me.
“I’m Lestat,” I said in a low voice. “Your Lestat. I’m the same Lestat you’ve always known, and no matter how I’m changed, I’m stil the same being.”
“I know,” he said warmly.
I kissed him. I pressed my lips to his and I held this kiss for a long silent moment. And then I gave into a silent wave of feeling, and I took him in my arms. I held him tight against me. I felt his unmistakable silken skin, his soft shining black hair. I heard the blood throbbing in him, and time dissolved, and it seemed I was in some old and secret place, some warm tropical grotto we’d once shared, ours alone in some way, with the scent of sweet olive blossoms and the whisper of moist breeze. “I love you,” I whispered.
In a low intimate voice, he answered: “My heart is yours.” – PL, p.435
hey I don’t know how to break this to you or anne rice but Lestat -I came out of a hole in the ground after hundreds of years of sleeping just to live a Rockstar aesthetic- de Lioncourt absolutely would have an instagram and I don’t know why we’re not talking about that
Oh he totally would! He’d be posting constantly, you know how big of an attention whore he is.
I’m highkey hoping that the VC TV series somehow works in the social media, creating a FB, Twitter, IG, etc. for the character(s!) and teasing us leading up to the premiere and then have this stuff keep going through the production, have Lestat commenting on the episodes as they come out even ;D
Side note: I also want them to cast a Lestat who can sing and send him on an actual tour before the series starts so we can have actual Lestat concerts and get actual Lestat concert merch PLEASE!!!!
I’ve seen a few fan-made instas for him and a few of the other characters on here… @teambratprince did one, I’ll reblog it momentarily. I can’t remember where I saw the others.
I-want-my-IWTV 