Alternative book cover designed by me
Tag Archives: qotd
QOTD Reading update: Can Gabrielle PLEASE be y mom. She’s such a badass oh my god. She isn’t taking any shit and is like, “all I care about is my son so can we hurry this meeting up so I can go back into the wilderness?” I actually laughed out loud at “If I waste this bitch, to use the vernacular, do I waste the rest of us too?”
Gabrielle is a BAMF.
[X](Yes, Gabs. That’s what happens. As of QOTD. Also that’s your son’s GF you’re talking about wasting,… awkward…)
Chibi fanart of Akasha planning to rule the world. 😀 Sorry for the low res, it’s a photo of the original sketch. Hope you enjoy it. 😉
Hi, I was wondering if you know where it is first mentioned that Armand made a vow never to make fledgelings? I don’t remember reading about it until QoTD, but it seems so important to him that I’m sure it must have been brought up earlier. I can’t remember whether it was talked about in TVA either… thanks :)
Well I found it! In TVL, when Armand is telling Lestat and Gabrielle his story:
“In quiet allegiance to the Dark Ways, Armand
continued to serve. Yet in the centuries of his long obedience, Armand
kept two secrets to himself. These were his property, these secrets,
more purely his than the coffin in which he locked himself by day, or
the few amulets he wore. The first was that no matter how great his
loneliness, or how long the search for brothers and sisters in whom he
might find some comfort, he never worked the Dark Trick himself.
He wouldn’t give that to Satan, no Child of Darkness made by him.”
Hit the jump for more, cut for length.
Still in TVL, that quote above is right after he’s gone over how he’s seen so many vampires die:
In this particular, let
Armand observe that there was no vampire then living who was more
than three hundred years old. No one alive then could remember the
first Roman coven. The devil frequently calls his vampires home….He had witnessed
the inevitable dissolution of covens, seen immortality defeat the most
perfectly made Children of Darkness, and it seemed at times some
awesome punishment that it never defeated him. Was he destined to
be one of the ancient ones? The Children of the Millennia? Could one
believe those stories which persisted still?
He’s also mentioned that the Dark Trick is not an exact science (also TVL):
But
let Armand understand here also that the effect of the Dark Trick is
unpredictable, even when passed on by the very young vampire and
with all due care. For reasons no one knows, some mortals when Born
to Darkness become as powerful as Titans, others may be no more
than corpses that move. That is why mortals must be chosen with
skill. Those with great passion and indomitable will should be avoided
as well as those who have none.
So Armand’s reasons for refusing to turn Daniel, if you trust him to be honest about the ones he’s giving, seem to be that:
- Not everyone has the stamina for vampiring
- Mortal life is better and Daniel should appreciate it more!
- The Dark Trick is unpredictable and could leave Daniel in worse condition than mortal life ;A;
- Armand really underscores that mortal life is better, also bc of the tragedy he’s experienced in his own vampiring.
- Armand has his own enemies to deal with (“I’m like any beast on the prowl. I have enemies who are older and
stronger who would try to destroy me if it interested them to do so, I am sure.” – QOTD) - There’s also the threat of extermination happening to alot of vampires in QOTD so... bad timing. (”What matters is that the end
may be at hand…There is a vague repeated cry of
danger, but no one seems to know whence it comes. They only know that we are being sought out and
annihilated, that coven houses, meeting places, go up in flames.“ – QOTD)
Later, in QOTD, Daniel refers to it as a vow, maybe that’s he terminology Armand used when he told Daniel about it:
[Daniel says:] “Of course I believed you. The vow you made, you explained everything. But Armand, this is my question, to
whom did you make this vow?"Laughter.
^He made the vow to himself ;A;
[Armand says:] "So you would have me break my vow. You would have what you think you want. But look well at this
garden, because once I do it, you’ll never read my thoughts or see my visions again. A veil of silence will
come down.”
1. I think this is definitively where Daniel realizes Armand’s not going to turn him:
Then the realization had come to Daniel as they stood together in the ruined dining room with its famous
murals of ritual flagellation barely visible in the dark: He isn’t going to kill me after all. He isn’t going to do it.
Of course he won’t make me what he is, but he isn’t going to kill me. The dance will not end like that.
2. Then Armand starts trying to get Daniel to understand his reasons for not wanting to give him the Dark Gift
“Give me what I want,” Daniel had demanded.
“I’m giving you everything you could ever ask for."
"Yes, but not what I have asked for, not what I want!"
"Be alive, Daniel.” A low whisper, like a kiss. “Let me tell you from my heart that life is better than death.”
3. … which intensifies:
Ugly fights, terrible fights, finally, Armand broken down, glassy-eyed with silent rage, then crying softly but
uncontrollably as if some lost emotion had been rediscovered which threatened to tear him apart. “I will not
do it, I cannot do it. Ask me to kill you, it would be easier than that. You don’t know what you ask for, don’t
you see? It is always a damnable error! Don’t you realize that any one of us would give it up for one human
lifetime?
I’ve been reading Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles lately, and I had to draw this one out.
Storyception! Being told a story of that one time Lestat was told a story by Marius of that one time Marius was told a story by that crispy elder guy about Queen Akasha.
This deep red velvet human heart cake is a perfect treat to make for Halloween. Here’s instructions on how you can make it.
It literally looks so fucking good omfg
We need this for when a VC cosplayer is willing to re-enact the whole QOTD scene involving eating a heart…
Hello, I was wondering if Anne Rice has ever addressed why her female characters are more peripheral to the story than her male characters, and why she seems to avoid depicting wlw relationships. This has always bothered me; I don’t want to jump to labeling her as misogynistic, but it seems like her female characters are coded as female, while the males are just characters, if that makes sense. It seems like the men are bi and the women straight. Thank you, hope you don’t mind answering!
Hello! This was a really tough ask, and very intellectually stimulating, and opening it further, I ended up considering the larger topic of What is an author’s obligation to their readers? What is an artist’s obligation to their viewers/audience? I don’t know.
In that line of consideration, I don’t recall AR ever bringing up these specific issues in (or out) of canon, or whether she’s been asked about it. I don’t think she’s ever said anything about avoiding depicting wlw relationships… these seem like questions you could ask her directly on FB, but my prediction is that she would be unwilling to address them. My impression of her is that she enjoys praise but does not feel obligated to write anything for anyone but herself, for better or worse.
To use the word “avoiding” implies she’s aware of it as a failure on her part, and I don’t think she is aware of it.
[^Fanart by @garama, mommy!Louis w/ his parenting guide,
this looks, like a good mom, he’s forcing the other two into some kind of parent-child bonding exercise!]
Re: Coding characters as male or female, that discussion is kind of confusing to me. I’ve seen fandom discourse refer to Louis as the “mommy” in the Lestat, Louis, and Claudia family in IWTV (a little more on that under the cut). Louis is only one example of a male character who may have been intentionally written as being more of the stereotypically female role than a male; he is more protective and nurturing to Claudia like a mother would be, and Lestat seems to “wear the pants” in that household. IDK if that is sufficient as “coding a male character as female.”
- why her female characters are more peripheral to the story than her male characters,
- why she seems to avoid depicting wlw relationships.
- I don’t want to jump to labeling her as misogynistic, but it seems like her female characters are coded as female, while the males are just characters, if that makes sense.
- It seems like the men are bi and the women straight.
^This is a lot to consider, any one of which could be a whole essay of response. Anyone who has opinions on this is welcome to reblog/comment, as this is not an area of expertise for me. And, IMO, it’s not an area of expertise for Anne Rice, either.
TL;DR: I don’t think AR intended to “avoid” the topics you bring up, I believe she was more focused on her own topics (I list some under the cut). AR had posted “On My Method of Writing:” as part of a message on her page, 8/20/2003, which I found informative. A few excerpts are under the cut.
[^May 10, 2016- X] AR has said many times that she writes the books she wants to see in the world, no other intentions.
What is an author’s obligation to their readers? What is an artist’s obligation to their viewers/audience? I don’t know. We are all entitled to our own answers to that question.
Hit the jump for more, cut for length and QOTD spoiler.
To my knowledge, there isn’t any Universal Fiction Supreme Court (<– Tumblrland Hyperbole, just trying to add a little levity!) which require authors to satisfy certain demands in their writing. Just as I was recently called out both for sharing negative opinions/critical analysis
and for not sharing
negative opinions/critical analysis, it is hard, if not impossible, to please everyone, even if that’s a blogger/author’s goal. I try to compromise when I can, but that’s my own prerogative. AR seems to provide a little fanservice now and then and will write more of X, Y, Z when the POTP ask her to write more of X, Y, Z, but that’s her own prerogative.
Perhaps the misogyny some people perceive in her books is real, perhaps it’s internalized for her. She might deserve that label. I don’t know how I feel about that.
From all that I’ve absorbed over the years, she wrote about what intrigued her. This is just the first few things that come to mind of things I’ve seen in canon, in different variations, things she may have discussed outside the novels, things she has always seemed to want to explore:
- Her own retail and geographical interests/fetishes (classical painting, jewelry (cameos!!), high fashion (VELVET!), low fashion, literature, Shakespeare, music and culture of the 80′s (BLADE RUNNER & BON JOVI), SCIENCE and technology (iPHONES!), interior decorating, New Orleans, Miami, Ancient Rome, Paris, etc.);
- Sexuality & power;
- Religion and its role in terms of meting out punishment to those who deserve it and misapplied to innocent people, punishments as fitting a crime and punishments for no crime, varying forms of punishment;
- Revenge and whether it is justified;
- World peace and how to achieve it;
- Whether there is a God who will embrace us when we die, whether we will meet our loved ones who died before/after us, whether there is an eternal heaven and hell, etc. Whether we will get the answers to all of life’s questions;
- Religion and its setup as a social group and whether it requires genuine belief in order to be part of that group;
- Very hot guys and what they do w/ their dicks;
- Childlike, adorable women;
- Precocious young adults/teens who are interested in sex before coming of legal age;
- Consent, dubious consent, and lack of consent across many different categories;
- etc.
^I feel like all of her writing can be summed up as speculation on these topics (and others), exploring them to find out “what would happen if…” and presenting results which she does NOT promote, results which she DOES promote, and results she offers up to the reader’s interpretations. Misogyny can be easily woven into many of those topics w/ or w/o intention on the author’s part.
As an example of a speculative situation, involving a possible misandrist character: in QOTD, radical feminist Akasha believed she could guarantee world peace by killing off 90% of the men. She starts doing it but is thwarted before making much progress. If she could have continued, would it have been a successful plan? I believe AR is suggesting that it would not, that as enticing as the idea was, radical feminism is too extreme and would have failed. And further, that the misandrist proponent of radical feminism may have been missing a few marbles even as a mortal, in addition to being out of touch with reality as a nearly omnipotent immortal.
So my answer is that I don’t think AR intended to “avoid” the topics you bring up, I believe she was more focused on her own topics.
Re: Coding characters as male or female, that discussion is kind of confusing to me. I’ve seen fandom discourse refer to Louis as the “mommy” in the Lestat, Louis, and Claudia family in IWTV. AR has said Louis was basically written as herself (she famously said, and I can’t find the source rn but I remember it distinctly: “I’m the only woman ever played by Brad Pitt in film!”), evidence that she did see that character as female? Possibly.
“On My Method of Writing:” 8/20/2003, excerpts (my emphasis added):
“I have been writing most of my adult life, of course, but very steadily since about 1970.”
^Idk if coding gender into characters was a thing then.
“My method of writing is to develop the novel sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph and page by page with heavy rewriting and reshaping and editing as I go along,… until I had the perfected page in order to proceed to the next page.”
^I seem to recall her saying that some of her novels are planned out w/ plot points first, others just flow in the order she writes them, w/o pre-planning.
“After the publication of the The Queen of the Damned, I requested of my editor that she not give me anymore comments. I resolved to hand in the manuscripts when they were finished. And asked that she accept them as they were. She was very reluctant, feeling that her input had value, but she agreed to my wishes. I asked this due to my highly critical relationship with my work and my intense evolutionary work on every sentence in the work, my feeling for the rhythm of the phrase and the unfolding of the plot and the character development. I felt that I could not bring to perfection what I saw unless I did it alone. In othe words, what I had to offer had to be offered in isolation. So all novels published after The Queen of the Damned were written by me in this pure fashion, my editor thereafter functioning as my mentor and guardian.”
^Her editor was demoted to copyeditor
mentor and guardian
.
“…
the writing you are reading is quite deliberate, that it is informed and it is conscious, as well as being the result of intuition. It is the result of all that I am – my education, my mystic sensibilities, and the student in me. It is poured out fearlessly, and then edited, and re-edited, and subjected to merciless scrutiny. It represents, and always has, my finest efforts.”
^Her writing is all intentional and her focus is intentional.
Akasha trying to “justify” her genocide attempt makes me so angry. Like, yeah, wars are started by men but that’s bc historically men have had the power exclusively. If we do a quick review over the few female leaders in history they have always been part of wars as much as any male leader would have been. She herself is an example that women can do terrible things too and I feel like the others characters don’t try enough to make her understand this when they’re trying to convice her to stop.
That’s good then! Be angry. Fiction is not always out there to make you feel good. Sometimes it’s meant to push buttons, and in this case, it may have been smtg AR intended to explore, that some ppl really think/thought that Akasha’s idea could be a good path to peace.
Side note, this is so relevant right now bc in the Real World:
Unfortunately we are again faced with ppl who are consumed by their own ideology, with this new political regime and those that voted it in.
How are we going to deal with it? Are we going to let them steamroll everyone who opposes? How active can/should we be? We all have to ask that of ourselves bc fiction has very much become reality. And it’s nowhere near as pretty as Akasha.
So anyway, back to Akasha… Not all characters introduced by an author are ENDORSED by the author, the author is telling a story, maybe suggesting what might happen if we/the readers assumed, for example, that “all wars are started by men and therefore they should be removed from the equation for peace on earth.” AR shows us the narrow-mindedness of such an idea and that YES, Akasha is “herself is an example that women can do terrible things too.” Akasha probably knows that but bc it doesn’t fit with her own ideology, she is most likely ignoring it. If she doesn’t know that, she is refusing to learn it, which is just as bad, if not worse.
(Now we have a US President-Elect who’s saying that “it’s X, Y, Z group of ppl who start all the wars and have to be stopped.” SOUND FAMILIAR?)
[^X Lestat and his awesome girlfriend Akasha by @devmin-art]
BTW tho, did Akasha really believe in this or did she just want to be righteous and have a place in the world? When this initially happened, the Twins told her there was no way to undo it, and that she should kill herself to rid the world of the accident that she was, but like many living (unliving?) things, she didn’t want to die. She wanted to find a way to be righteous and have a purpose, and don’t we all? She constructed a religion around herself back when she was first turned, and she felt that it worked out really well for her. Of course, it was easier to manipulate ppl back when religion seemed to have more of the answers to all of our questions than science did.
and I feel like the others characters don’t try enough to make her understand this when they’re trying to convice her to stop.
^Keep in mind that the coven were all pretty frustrated at their failed attempts to reason with her, most of their arguments were met with personal attacks or just slippery gaslighting… and they were just on the edge of freaking out bc she can explode most of them with her mind ;A;
Lestat:
Dazed, she looked at me. I could feel death breathing on my face, death close as it had been years and
years ago when the wolves tracked me into the frozen forest, and I couldn’t reach up high enough for the
limbs of the barren trees.
The other characters did try to make her understand, but when someone is consumed by their own ideology, sometimes the only tactic that will work is backing off the issue itself and asking them to take more time to consider their chosen course of action, which may have given the coven more time to educate her or find some common ground on which to build some dialogue… which is what they were all doing.
Maharet says:
“Time,” Maharet said. “Maybe that is what we are asking for. Time. And that is what you have to give.”
…“You have meditated in silence for centuries upon your solutions. What is another hundred years? Surely
you will not dispute that the last century on this earth was beyond all prediction or imagining-and that the
technological advances of that century can conceivably bring food and shelter and health to all the peoples
of the earth.“
i keep thinking about that tribe of baboons where all the alpha males died from eating poison garbage and then the baby boy monkeys were taken care of by the lady monkeys and never got socialized to be aggressive so they all just live peacefully and groom eachother instead of fighting and killing eachother and its been generations of that, it only took 1 wipeout of the aggressive males to change the whole social order of the species i am crying they must be so much happier
……….I have an idea.
[^X @anneboleyns]
I-want-my-IWTV 