Erwin Blumenfeld Tara Twain, Amsterdam 1935
Tag Archives: the vampire sybelle
Handsome Prince, How do you really feel about Sybelle, is she really as eccentric as described in the books? I feel she is a shy, misunderstood young woman.
♛My first impression of Sybelle was her waking me from my slumber with her passionate renditions of the Appassionata. I might have awoken then without it, but I can’t help but feel that her music was necessary; it pulled me, those fierce notes the only thing that penetrated the thick darkness where I was. I still ask her to play it now and then, and it reminds me of that rescue, whether intentional or not on her part.
[X Ramón Nuñez @Ramon_N90 #viaCurioos]
I have not had the pleasure to get to know Sybelle as much as I’d like to. She is not much for conversation. She’ll converse with music, and I have played duets with her, on guitar along with her.
Eccentric… Who’s not eccentric in our coven? *laughs* Who’s not misunderstood? I will say that she’s not as concerned by her surroundings as you might think she would be, she likes it when Armand or Benji tie her hair back for her, even though she is capable of doing so herself. She seems to carry an old soul and a child’s enthusiasm at the same time; she can be thrilled by little things like playing Tetris on an old Gameboy, and yet, she asks for very little outside of her piano, and her privacy. She has few possessions… keeps her jewelry in plastic bags in a shoe box! Benji’s idea, as the necklaces would tangle otherwise.
I am learning more about Sybelle with every interaction. One thing is for sure, she makes a fine addition to our coven, and I am glad to have her with us.
[^//ooc: Just try and tell me that Valentina Lisitsa isn’t basically Sybelle, just look at her! She’s just older.]
//ooc: So, Sybelle! A rare one for ppl to ask about and rarely chosen for RP. I remember there was @sybelle-the-appassionata, but it looks like they’re pword protected and/or on hiatus. There was also @play-the-appassionata, looks inactive now, but their archive might have smtg for you! Antoine RPer @antoineandthepiano may have thoughts re: Sybelle for you.
For more on Sybelle, try my #sybelle and #the vampire sybelle tags. There’s a little fanart, cosplay, some meta by other ppl, some mentions of Benji (since he’s kind of part of her package deal!) and spoilers.
Ramón Nuñez @Ramon_N90 #viaCurioos
what are your thoughts about sybelle? I just finished VA and I don’t know what to think. I just know I don’t quite like her nor benji (but I already see the post about him…) so I wanted to know what do ya think about her?? I love your blog btw it’s amazing and you’re a sweetie! <3
Merci beaucoup what a lovely thing to say! *u*
So, Sybelle! A rare one for ppl to ask about and rarely chosen for RP. I remember there was @sybelle-the-appassionata, but it looks like they’re on hiatus. There was also @play-the-appassionata, looks inactive now, but their archive might have smtg for you!
I don’t really have positive or negative feelings towards her, but in light of later canon, she’s become more solid, more believable, and I do hope AR develops her some more. There’s more to Sybelle than being ANOTHER beautiful blonde woman-child, and having a name of Greek derivation; Sybelle means “prophetess, oracle.” Does she foresee things in canon? Not so much, IIRC, but maybe that has yet to happen.
^While I was thinking about your ask these last few days, I saw this Visual Development from Tangled by Claire Keane
[X] and thought WOW SYBELLE.
In fact I think the comparison is more than reasonable; Sybelle also seemed isolated in a tower, and further isolated herself with her obsession with the piano, specifically, Beethoven’s Appassionata.
We have Sybelle to thank for waking Lestat from his coma, so I set my alarm to one of the stronger sections of the Appassionata,
you really cannot ignore it or shut it out, and it’s NOT the most pleasant thing to wake up to. It works though, it really works. IT COULD WAKE THE DEAD. I had to change it after a few weeks, but try it!
Just try and tell me that Valentina Lisitsa isn’t basically Sybelle, just look at her! She’s just older.
For more on Sybelle, try my #sybelle and #the vampire sybelle tags. There’s a little fanart, cosplay, some meta by other ppl, some mentions of Benji (since he’s kind of part of her package deal!) and spoilers.
White and grey coloured pencils and white gel pen on A4 black paper.
FQL:
Lestat here. This question is from Chuck Johnson: “Undoubtedly you know of Armand’s attempted suicide following your acquisition of Veronica’s Veil. Do you have any theories on how he saved Sybelle and Benji? Was it truly Divine Intervention, or a form of projection?” — Chuck, no, I don’t have any theory on how Armand managed to save Sybelle and Benji — based on his description in his memoir. I suspect, however, that it was as you said, “a form of projection.” Armand has always had enormous psychic powers as a vampire, including the power to spellbind others with immense and very convincing illusions, the ability to hypnotize and control others, and to slip into altered states himself in which his dreams seem to provide some real gateway to another plane. I don’t doubt that he could do what we call astral projecting and take it perhaps one step further than many others, materializing or affecting matter in the location to which he’s projected himself. But I’m a novice in all this. I make no judgments on Armand’s abilities but I don’t fully understand them. I take him at his word that he did save Benji and Sybelle, and I’m not entirely sure that even he knows quite how he did it. Due to those mysterious psychic abilities, Armand makes a much better friend than an enemy. His spellbinding gifts are particularly dangerous. Being a person of action and a sensualist, I’m not really on Armand’s level when it comes to these mental skills. Armand’s thoughts are almost impossible for me to penetrate, and his boyish countenance often reveals nothing of his true calculations and feelings. I love him and I respect him — and I know that he loves me — but I never for a moment imagine I’m entirely safe with him.
I love him and I respect him — and I know that he loves me — but I never for a moment imagine I’m entirely safe with him.
Beethoven Sonata Op 57 “Appassionata” Mov. 3
Don’t get me wrong, this is beautiful. She is amazing, the piece is amazing.
This is the piece that woke Lestat up. I set it as the alarm on my phone to simulate being awoken by this and let me tell u what: IT WORKS. Very alarming, you really cannot ignore it or shut it out, and it’s NOT the most pleasant thing to wake up to. It works though, it really works.
Just try and tell me that Valentina Lisitsa isn’t basically Sybelle, just look at her! She’s just older.
Why everybody hate benji? I need valid reasons!!
Um… so many reasons… and I haven’t read that book in awhile so I’m not the best resource for this. The fandom tends to hate on Benji bc:
- He’s a shameless Gary Stu
- He’s a child, maybe 12? Marius knows better (without spoiling anything, I’ll leave it at that).
- He smokes (not a character FLAW per se, but it seemed to be a cheap way to make him look “tough kid” or whatever)
- Emotionally/intellectually he’s flawless! He’s such an angelic person! He can do no wrong! Such characters are inherently unlikable maybe bc we can’t suspend disbelief for someone so PURE OF HEART.
- The way he talks seems oddly teenage? I remember someone saying that as a complaint.
Mostly we hate him because (and this can all be applied to Sybelle equally) of his existence, how he came into Armand’s life, and what happened to him seemed wildly out of the VC universe and out of character for everyone involved.
Here have some fanart:
It’s also the handling of race and race relations, I think. Benji is literally a 12-year-old Arab child that Sybelle’s abusive, controlling brother bought to be a companion to Sybelle. The family had been visiting the Holy Land when the parents got killed in a car crash, and so Sybelle was depressed and wouldn’t play the piano (she was a concert pianist and her brother was isolating and exploiting her like Colonel Parker on steroids). He got Benji to look after Sybelle, and engineer her behaviour, knowing Sybelle would do as Benji asked (i.e. look after herself, play the piano), and he hit Benji anyway.
It’s hard to explain the clumsiness of the writing, but it’s like… there’s this patina of attempts at evocative detail re: Benji’s clothing and the references he makes, but essentially the book sets up this situation where the quirky Arab kid gets bought by rich white Americans, and that’s bad because the situation is abusive, but then Armand saves them from the evil brother, so then everything’s YAY! And Benji’s such a funny little character!
I’d put it down to Anne Rice being kind of poor at handling gritty “realistic” modern situations (especially since the entire existence of Sybelle and Benji, and their entire circumstances, are there purely because she needed to retcon a character death away), and shoehorning them into her very heightened, stylised, dark fairytale, mostly historical books. So Benji having apparently been bought is talked off in hushed tones like Sybelle knows it’s a bad thing, but nobody seems very concerned to look into his origins or try and put him in touch with his family or anything. I mean, this is a kid who’s been taken across international borders illegally, presumably with fake papers! And now he lives with Sybelle and it’s all quirky and funny how he smokes like a chimney and goes out in the middle of the night in New York City and somehow this is all just… charcaterful! And okay, because he’s happy with Sybelle and Armand!
To be fair, a lot of this is basic Anne Rice tropes: a poor or ordinary child gets swept up by someone rich and given all the education/resources/stuff money can buy, and they are super-happy together and it’s a beneficial arrangement for both parties. Her books have a ton of this rags-to-riches stuff. But I think what makes it unsettling is when she crosses a cultural and racial border, with all the inherent echoes of slavery and colonialism that entails…
He’d been flat out kidnapped by Fox under the felonious terms of a long-term lease of bondage for which Fox paid Benji’s father five thousand dollars. A fabricated emigration passport was thrown into the bargain. He’d been the genius of the tribe, without doubt, had mixed feelings about going home and had learnt in the New York streets to steal, smoke and curse, in that order. Though he swore up and down he couldn’t read, it turned out that he could, and began to do so obsessively just as soon as I started throwing books at him.
In fact, he could read English, Hebrew and Arabic, having read all three in the newspapers of his homeland since before he could remember.
He loved taking care of Sybelle. He saw to it that she ate, drank milk, bathed and changed her clothes when none of these routine tasks interested her. He prided himself on the fact that he could by his wits obtain for her whatever she needed, no matter what happened to her.”
gaby-queen: #BOTH THESE CHARACTERS WERE SO UNNECESSARY, #LITERALLY WHY ARE THEY EVEN THERE, #WHY, #they just dont belong im sorry i cant with any of their characterization, #why would armand, #why would marius, #IT MAKES ZERO SENSE.
^THIS is basically the visceral response and I agree 100% kthanxbye
Why everybody hate benji? I need valid reasons!!
Um… so many reasons… and I haven’t read that book in awhile so I’m not the best resource for this. The fandom tends to hate on Benji bc:
- He’s a shameless Gary Stu
- He’s a child, maybe 12? Marius knows better (without spoiling anything, I’ll leave it at that).
- He smokes (not a character FLAW per se, but it seemed to be a cheap way to make him look “tough kid” or whatever)
- Emotionally/intellectually he’s flawless! He’s such an angelic person! He can do no wrong! Such characters are inherently unlikable maybe bc we can’t suspend disbelief for someone so PURE OF HEART.
- The way he talks seems oddly teenage? I remember someone saying that as a complaint.
Mostly we hate him because (and this can all be applied to Sybelle equally) of his existence, how he came into Armand’s life, and what happened to him seemed wildly out of the VC universe and out of character for everyone involved.
Here have some fanart:
It’s also the handling of race and race relations, I think. Benji is literally a 12-year-old Arab child that Sybelle’s abusive, controlling brother bought to be a companion to Sybelle. The family had been visiting the Holy Land when the parents got killed in a car crash, and so Sybelle was depressed and wouldn’t play the piano (she was a concert pianist and her brother was isolating and exploiting her like Colonel Parker on steroids). He got Benji to look after Sybelle, and engineer her behaviour, knowing Sybelle would do as Benji asked (i.e. look after herself, play the piano), and he hit Benji anyway.
It’s hard to explain the clumsiness of the writing, but it’s like… there’s this patina of attempts at evocative detail re: Benji’s clothing and the references he makes, but essentially the book sets up this situation where the quirky Arab kid gets bought by rich white Americans, and that’s bad because the situation is abusive, but then Armand saves them from the evil brother, so then everything’s YAY! And Benji’s such a funny little character!
I’d put it down to Anne Rice being kind of poor at handling gritty “realistic” modern situations (especially since the entire existence of Sybelle and Benji, and their entire circumstances, are there purely because she needed to retcon a character death away), and shoehorning them into her very heightened, stylised, dark fairytale, mostly historical books. So Benji having apparently been bought is talked off in hushed tones like Sybelle knows it’s a bad thing, but nobody seems very concerned to look into his origins or try and put him in touch with his family or anything. I mean, this is a kid who’s been taken across international borders illegally, presumably with fake papers! And now he lives with Sybelle and it’s all quirky and funny how he smokes like a chimney and goes out in the middle of the night in New York City and somehow this is all just… charcaterful! And okay, because he’s happy with Sybelle and Armand!
To be fair, a lot of this is basic Anne Rice tropes: a poor or ordinary child gets swept up by someone rich and given all the education/resources/stuff money can buy, and they are super-happy together and it’s a beneficial arrangement for both parties. Her books have a ton of this rags-to-riches stuff. But I think what makes it unsettling is when she crosses a cultural and racial border, with all the inherent echoes of slavery and colonialism that entails…
He’d been flat out kidnapped by Fox under the felonious terms of a long-term lease of bondage for which Fox paid Benji’s father five thousand dollars. A fabricated emigration passport was thrown into the bargain. He’d been the genius of the tribe, without doubt, had mixed feelings about going home and had learnt in the New York streets to steal, smoke and curse, in that order. Though he swore up and down he couldn’t read, it turned out that he could, and began to do so obsessively just as soon as I started throwing books at him.
In fact, he could read English, Hebrew and Arabic, having read all three in the newspapers of his homeland since before he could remember.
He loved taking care of Sybelle. He saw to it that she ate, drank milk, bathed and changed her clothes when none of these routine tasks interested her. He prided himself on the fact that he could by his wits obtain for her whatever she needed, no matter what happened to her.”
I-want-my-IWTV 