Yes, I did read it! No real spoilers under the cut, bc the short answer, about Nicolas, is No :-
Characters refer to Nicolas a few times but he’s not around. There is the theory out there that he faked his death and may yet reappear in the next book, though!
Lestat still has the letters Eleni wrote to him about the Theatre, and he writes about them: “the letters that told me of its prosperity with the Paris audiences, of Armand’s governance, and of the death of my Nicolas, my second fledgling, my only mortal friend, and my greatest failure.”
Yes, she is “like Lestat’s adopted daughter or something.” That’s probably the best description of her!
^She looks smtg like this: Flora and the Zephyrs [detail] by John William Waterhouse. [X]
My headcanon for kid!Rose:
^This smile, this is what Uncle Lestan would do just about anything for! Perform whole soliloquys while doing handstands, pretend the floor is lava, make silly noises, funny faces, anything. ❤ (This has nothing to do w/ her being Tom Cruise’s daughter; really! Physically, she’s my kid!Rose headcanon)
Spoilers ahead.
I don’t remember her childhood story too well, tagging @roselioncourt for that, but I think it was a rough childhood before she was rescued? I pictured her as unhealthfully slender during that time. Lestat rescued her and brought her to live with her new parental figures (two ladies, her “Aunts,” not sure whether they were also romantically involved w/ each other), and he checked in on her every so often, paid for everything, bc he is a philanthropist and loves kids.
Rose knew him as “Uncle Lestan” until her crappy professor boyfriend informed her of the VC, and exploded at her w/ an unnecessary amount of rage bc he thought she was making it up that she considered Lestat to not only be TOTES REAL but basically her loving benefactor! HOW DARE SHE SUUGEST SUCH A THING. Why couldn’t she just be a sexual object for her possessive boyfriend, and only speak to agree with or flatter him?? HOW DARE SHE be a person with her own life and backstory?? Pffft. <– sarcasm.
ANYWAY she and Lestat’s biological son end up growing close for shared connection to Lestat, and bc our series needed a het YA Twilight couple apparently. Eventually she becomes Lestat’s “real” daughter when her Dark Gift reception is poor and he has to step in and perform it properly bc of course he had to do it himself, “if you want smtg done right, gotta do it yourself.”
It’s not in Armand’s nature to be simply happy. He has known joy and a sense of belonging at various points in his life; he’s even been in love. Currently he feels a sense of peace in being needed by those he spends time with.
Whether you ship Daniel/Marius or Daniel/Armand, I think Armand spends time with both Daniel and Marius; and feels loved to some extent by the whole coven. Armand likes to pull different members for trips to the galleries or shopping, but his favorite thing is lazing about the house playing chess with Louis or having a lively debate with David on art history, architecture being a favorite topic.
Occasionally he hunts with Lestat, where they can both feel a little more relaxed, away from the scrutiny of others (who actually encourage the friction w/o meaning to do so, just bc they’re afraid it will happen and keep making furtive glances at Lestat and Armand to the point where they do sometimes crack under the pressure and pick a fight over nothing).
If you wanted Armand’s current vampire happenings re: Prince Lestat, which I struggle to accept as canon YES EVEN NOW over a year later i know get out ma faaace here ya go:
According to Prince Lestat, Armand was living in a gorgeous old building (which, of course, he spruced up to his exacting luxurious specifications) on the upper east side of NY w/ Louis, Sybelle and Benji. Eventually Antoine (the unnamed musician vampire from IWTV, Lestat’s alleged 5th fledgling who had gone unmentioned up until PL) arrived at their door and was welcomed by all.
Throughout the story of Prince Lestat, Armand does little other than be supportive of Lestat, in a way that almost seems obsequious. Not much really happens for Armand, he rides out the whole drama pretty unscathed.
So currently he is pretty content with things and enjoying the company of Sybelle and Benji, and whoever else wants to chill with him.
You probably wanted a REAL answer, but I don’t want to spoil ya. Hit the jump for spoilation.
(For headcanons and to talk to a Viktor RPer, go to @viktor-de-lioncourt (who uses Jordan Sörbom as a FC) or @roselioncourt, both of whom care quite a lot more than I do about this character.)
Viktor is Lestat’s biological son, created during the course of Prince Lestat. In the mid-90s (I think?) Lestat had encountered some vampire doctor/scientists (they are vampires trained in and interested in the study of vampirism, running a lab just for that) and they *ahem* collect a biological sample from Lestat, with his full compliance.
HOWEVER, without his consent or knowledge, they use his sample to make baby Viktor! Baby Viktor has a mortal mother, so presumably, the DNA needed a little tinkering to make it work; Viktor is considered partially a clone, and in appearance he seems to be a carbon copy of Lestat (slightly taller, IIRC).
Lestat doesn’t know he fathered him until Viktor is no longer a baby (he’s at least 20?) and is used as a pawn in the shaking up of the vampiric matriarchy, so to speak. Father and son get reunited, everybody’s happy.
It’s unclear whether Lestat is also Viktor’s vampiric maker, he had asked Marius to be involved, and we might get more specifics in the next VC, Blood Paradise.
Louis is always Lestat’s fave, tho! We all know that.
// The number one thing that bothers me about Rose’s story in PL is that she both swallows and has acid thrown on her face and neck, including her eyes, and is somehow healed perfectly by the magic of Vampire blood. I realize it is a supernatural story, and that I am able to suspend my disbelief to believe that Vampires are real in the story and that they fly and all the other stuff. And their blood has been proven to heal wounds, though it has its limits. It cannot regrow limbs or organs lost before the transformation.
So Rose, who is both blind and mute by the end of the ordeal, should not have been able to be healed with Blood. I feel like it’s AR’s way of making everything okay for her special Mary Sue Self Insert. After all, if her plan all along is to kill off two strong female characters by the end of the book, one whom happens to be blind, and the other mute, then of course the special snowflake won’t be disabled either.
I firmly believe I’ve read Rose’s chapters more times than anyone by this point, all in the name of perfecting her nonexistent character. What happens is I find a trait mentioned in one sentence or one line and extrapolating out that to her whole life. Now, the same could be said of many side characters in VC. But I still feel like the end to Rose’s story could have been far more interesting than what we were given.
#AGREES AGGRESSIVELY
Not specifically about the acid (bc I have not reread her sections i just can’t bring myself to revisit that entire book yet), but I think you’ve actually articulated here what I couldn’t, about why I still can’t find love in my heart for her, an entire year after the release of that book. It’s not just me being a cranky old Earlier Canon Was Better preacher! *sobs* Thank you, nodominion-mun. It took guts to actually put this out there.
I tried to be very thorough regarding names and makers. The unknown branch bothers me the most, and if anyone knows where those Vampires started from, please let me know. Also I’m not 100% sure on all of Rhosh’s fledglings, though from a few sources I think that’s all his named ones.
If you would like to correct anything or add anyone canon, PLEASE send me a message, even on anon. The more eyes I can have on this the better.
Of course this is updated through Prince Lestat, so spoilers for character names and makers.
Colors refer to gender, though I’m unsure of Petronia, who is technically a hermaphrodite, and Eleni and Eugenie. Again, please message me for any changes/clarifications!
You can click the images to make them a little clearer/bigger.
Well. What a journey. I have finally finished Prince Lestat and I am pleasantly surprised. Fully intending to hate every moment of it, I have to say, it was a heck of a lot better than I was expecting. Lestat was his true self on so many occasions which made me incredibly happy. Granted, there were many times when he was not and that did irritate me but the moments where he was himself were a real delight. There were parts that definitely could have been better, but I was quietly surprised by how emotional I became at times.
Very well-put! I totally agree, and that’s why I can’t simply toss the whole book out for its ooc moments/plot/etc.. There were some gems in there for sure, and I like following the fanworks, RP, discussion, etc., it continues to generate.
[Read More is spoilery]
The loss of Maharet and Khayman hit me hard and in fact I almost stopped reading altogether at that point. (thanks to antoineandthepiano for encouraging me to continue!) I will freely admit that I cried at that unexpected loss and though I am not exactly sure yet how I am going to treat this. I am interested in roleplaying the events of Prince Lestat and after, so I am going to have to decide on this. If anyone would like to come and speak with me about it, that would be wonderful!
And I have to speak on the final chapter; Louis’ chapter. I loved this part and, despite the frustration I often experience with Anne’s writing, I really thought this was a master stroke. It was the perfect way to end this book and it left me so pleased, knowing that he was finally happy in himself. So, with that done, I am now very keen to roleplay anything and everything from these books and rather excited for the coming release of the next one in the series. I can only hope that it is as good as this one has been.
yES of course I would! But if it’s not in league with Anne Rice, you have the possibility of getting slapped with a copyright infringement suit 😛
Now, I reblog tons of VC fanart, and fanworks, bc I love it, and there is some difference between the artists sharing it for free vs. charging money for it, but it seems that AR must be aware of fanart made for commission (paintings, prints, etc.) and she hasn’t made any negative statements about it. In fact, she’s complimented more than one fanartist (for example, garama) and at least one cosplayer (for example sheepskeleton)(it’s a form of art so it totally counts)… so I think we’re somewhat safe so long as we keep it small-scale and don’t poke the bear by throwing it directly in her face.
I actually do intend to commission some VC fanartists at some point, just need a good enough idea to ask for.
Sure, I may not like all of it, but honestly I love all of Anne rices work and could not , with conviction, tell someone not to read it.
So all of you peeps who are afraid to read it or put off because of the fandoms feelings in the book, just ignore all that and work to craft an opinion of your own on the book by bravely reading it yourself.
~T~h~i~s~/
TL;DR WARNING.
Before I launch into this, the title itself felt like a joke: "Oh gdi Lestat you are so obsessed with your stupid nickname, you hamburger-brained moron" but really he did not coin that phrase, and in fact he resisted it for most of the book. So let’s not blame Lestat for that bit. In fact, it is meant to follow Queen of the Damned in a very big plot point kinda way, and so the title makes perfect sense once you know that plot point.
I finally finished it after picking it up, setting it down, and repeating that procedure a number of times. There were sections that made me lose total interest for weeks. Then I’d grumble and trudge through. I knew some spoilers (bc I had asked for them!), just plot points, but I wanted to experience it as it deserved to be experienced. Even the parts that made me invent a wholly new WTF facial expression. But I laughed more than cried of second-hand embarrassment at those scenes.
I finally closed that book with the feeling that I opened it with: cautious optimism, and glad for having given it the chance. It’s revived our fandom for sure. I might even reread it soon. Is any of it really canon? Maybe. Not sure. I think some good RP and fanfic will revise some of it, fill in the missing parts, and glue it all together.
Oh, you want more? Well I’ll give you more…
Let me just say that there are several canon/fanon-worthy scenes in this book, that are not to be missed. There’s a lot of good character work with several of the characters (not ALL of them, but hey, it’s something).
There’s an intensity to the last 25% that’s worth the anguish of the parts that lost my interest. You have to slog through to get to that, though. It makes it more worthwhile, a creeping sort of anxiety in the story until that last 25% sweet spot.
There’s also a lot of good exploration of the PTSD in Lestat himself. There are times when it really feels like the Lestat from TVL or even IWTV! His brutality is still there. His gentleness is different now, worn sort of thin by too many people abusing it (*cough cough* Mona! Though she was in the right in several instances back in Blackwood Farm), but still there.
There’s a great, short, powerplay with David. There’s some great mother & son bonding (lol) with Gabrielle. Louis has a sort of change of heart. Armand is so chill you might think he’s being sarcastic. New characters are brought in (this includes old ones that we thought were long gone and are now brought back and dusted off), and lined up, they’ll surely be more developed and have roles in the next installment.
The entire vampire tribe has turned a new corner at the end.
I cannot say it is impossible as for I have never tried to do such a thing – and I find it hard to believe one would as I cannot see a purpose on doing so. However, I personally find highly unlikely for such an attempt to be successful.
♛ Hope you don’t mind my adding to this, Marius. Our physiology has always intrigued me, too much to be tactful and pass up a chance to discuss it *winks*
Technically Louis and I both made our daughter together. In that sense, one can be made by more than one sire. It just usually happens that it’s a single one of us claiming a single mortal to bring over for love, or on orders of a higher ranking member, or as an heir (in my case)…
It’s not an exact science, it can go horridly wrong even if performed correctly. My darling Nicolas seemed, at first, to have been committed to a fate worse than death. I would not recommend the further complication of two (or more) makers.
However… in my latest novel…
ooc; So I finally finished Prince Lestat!!! Took me awhile. ANYWAY.
I won’t spoil anything here, but let’s just say that the idea of 2 makers at the same time is addressed. Sort of. It’s not directly answered but it’s addressed.
I think it could be done. Why not? Lestat has admitted that Marius’ multiple transfer procedure is a better one than Lestat’s usual method of blood taken from the mortal and transferred back only once. The fledgling is a vessel for blood that must be emptied and replenished a few times.
I-want-my-IWTV 