Following through the comments on my post, there is the idea that “le Russe” is an epithet, that it’s not what Armand goes by, but something Rhoshamandes calls him. It’s only mentioned once in the book, IIRC, by Rhosh. I’d believe that.
Anne APPARENTLY made up “le Russe” in PL. Which I had totally forgotten until I was reminded a little while ago. As far as obviously made up surnames go it’s even worse than de Romanus lol. ETA: I need to do a closeread before I speak lol, it sounds like that’s an epithet rather than a name.
SO LIKE I MEAN, the only part (to my recollection? plz correct me???) where it mentions “Armand Le Russe” is in a Rhosh chapter and that guy is such a salty fuckin tool and I got the impression that he was calling Armand that to be petty and sarcastic? Cause then she started listing the vampires at the end of the books and she still just refers to him as “Armand” without a last name.
“Only the clever ones like Gregory Duff Collingsworth and Armand Le Russe–who could thrive right in the midst of mortals–were undisturbed by the shrinking of the planet.”
YEP that’s what @laurasking pointed out to me too. That’s totally plausible. Also since Rhosh’s experience with Armand relates to coven era BS in Paris (idk if I’m even remembering this correctly but isn’t he pissed that allessandra ++ were forced into the covens) it might possibly be a thing left over from that era as well??
laurasking said: Well, Rhoshamandes calls him that, but no one else.
moral-cipher said: Laurasking – ohhh i forgot that. So it’s probably an epithet, possibly left over from the Bad Old Days. That makes a lot more sense. Thanks!
laurasking said: I thought fanon was that he assumed de Romanus.
@i-want-my-iwtv: ^Re: de Romanus, I assumed that was the name Armand used when he was with Marius, but after he was taken by the Children of Darkness, they changed his first name and I would assume he never used “de Romanus” again, either ;A;
I don’t recall that he ever mentioned having a last name, or that he took on Marius’ last name at any point…
[^X Björn by gampy (Björn is a fandom fave for Armand)]
Opening this up to anyone, was Armand ever given or has he ever mentioned taking on any specific last names? I can’t even think if he’d ever shared aliases, as Lestat often does…
I got some good responses to this post, you can peruse them, and whether you agree that “le Russe” is Armand’s last name depends on whether you accept PL as canon.
Others noted that it’s Ivanovich, because his father’s name was Ivan. As far as I know, that’s the naming convention in that part of the world, that your last name includes your father’s name like that, but I didn’t see “
Ivanovich” explicitly written in canon. At any rate, Armand is no longer “Andrei,” so I wouldn’t think that he would have kept that last name, either.
I don’t recall that he ever mentioned having a last name, or that he took on Marius’ last name at any point…
[^X Björn by gampy (Björn is a fandom fave for Armand)]
Opening this up to anyone, was Armand ever given or has he ever mentioned taking on any specific last names? I can’t even think if he’d ever shared aliases, as Lestat often does…
The pronunciation of his name is up for some debate; it isn’t explicitly defined in canon. Les Mis fandom ppl – who also have a Marius in their canon – tend to pronounce it “MAHR-eeus” with more emphasis on the first syllable.
I’m not a scholar on Roman history, either, so someone who is can chime in on this, bc it would probably be that way. I’ve always pronounced his name “Marry-iss” which I’m sure is totally wrong, but sounds right to me 😛
What’s in a name? A lot when we’re talking about Armand from The Vampire Chronicles. In The Vampire Armand, Armand breaks down his life for you. However I like to break down his novel/life into 3 parts according to his given names:
Andrei (Given by his Father: Ivan)
Amadeo (Given to him by his Master: Marius)
Armand (Given to him by his fellow Coven member aka Child Of Darkness: Allesandra)
“For my characters, I pick my names, really, by instinct and feeling they have to feel right for the character, they have to be pretty to me, and they have to have a sound that I can hear Lestat saying aloud, and Dora was a perfect name. I was also probably influenced by Dora in David Copperfield, by Dickens. I also search passionately for names in many sources. I look through baby name books. I circle the beautiful names when I come across them in history books and art books, and I sometimes write beautiful names on the walls of my room, having come across them in random reading. Names are extremely important to me. I can’t progress with the character until I have the name and can rapidly say the name, and type the name.”
I-want-my-IWTV 