Most men would simply wear a simple large shirt tucked into breeches.
Some men wore linen drawers if they could afford them, which were more or less just thinner breeches.
Because of all the layers of clothing, breeches (knee-length capris) opened in the front without having to actually drop them or undo the waist. Their width at the knees often buttoned tightly to stop stockings from rolling down if the garters at mid-thigh didn’t hold.
Put on some clothes, Lestat! Those scenes where Lestat is just wearing a shirt and breeches? Technically he’s only wearing underwear! Usually even at home, a proper gentleman (like Nicolas) would wear a banyan (an East Asian-inspired robe). When going out, a gentleman would wear a tight frock coat.
All of this goes out the window for the Third Estate, who pretty much only owned two sets of clothing for their entire lives.
Well yeah, there have been trapdoors in theatres for ages. A trapdoor wasn’t necessary for this since Lestat got the info of Nicolas’ death from a letter. If you mean that even Eleni was fooled, then, yes, that’s possible. But I think Eleni was close to Nicolas and would be in on the scheme.
So who knows, maybe Eleni wrote the letter at Nicolas’ request, or Armand’s request… maybe Nicolas himself asked her to do it. We don’t know his reasons for suicide just as we don’t know why he’d fake his death. If he faked his death, we can probably assume he didn’t want Lestat to know he was alive or try to search for him, EVER. Eleni and Armand are both still in canon as far as Prince Lestat, so only they can answer these questions.
@devilsviolinistwrote a good post on Nicki survival theories here. Check it out.
Did AR intend that death to have been faked or real? We have unreliable narrators *shrug* She hasn’t made any hints as to Nicolas resurfacing in the next book, but at this point IT WOULDN’T SURPRISE ME. In fact, I would love for us to have our very own Civil War
Past all the casting rumors and the questions of adaptation around the upcoming Vampire Chronicles reboot (seriously the second book doesn’t have an ending and the framing device relies on the first book, WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO), the thing that makes me most exhausted is thinking about all the straightsplaining that’s going to come out of the woodwork. Again.
Just thinking about all the exciting FLAVORS I could sample.
Like, you’ve got your Vanilla Queer Erasure. “Lestat and Louis were just friends raising their adopted daughter platonically!”
Your Rum Raisin Biphobia. “Lestat is clearly gay/straight, and the other people he’s expressed an interest in don’t count!”
The daring That’s Not What That Term You’re Borrowing Means But Nice Backbending Pistachio. “Well technically they’re not gay because their dicks don’t work, so really they’re all asexual!”
The heady and new Sour Grapes Whinging. “They just put in all this gay stuff to pander to the ESS JAY DUBBYAS, this is such bullshit.”
And then I realized, MY GOD, I’m only thinking of the audience! There might be so many new flavors on the crew side!
There’s your Bitter Limoncello Queerbaiting. “Oh, well we never SAID they were in love. Wow, those fans sure are taking all the deliberately candlelight looks of longing and pledges of devotion the wrong way, huh?”
The soggy cone of specifically invented hetero love interests or cisswapping for the sole purpose of making a queer love interest straight (really a bear to order, that one, but some folks just put in the extra effort). “I thought Nicola was really layered, didn’t you?”
Selective Dead Gays Mint Chip. “It was so sad when Nicki died – Lestat loved him so much! Good thing he found those conspicuously only lady love interests in the present!”
The ever popular Investor Dodge Sherbet. “We just weren’t sure audiences would invest in a story with a male/male love story, and it’s such a big blockbuster movie. MAYBE NEXT TIME.”
The above also comes in the subtler, more crafted flavor known as Conveniently Cut for Time Soft Serve.
Also if you’d like some, this salt lick is really quite delicious.
//For those who have wondered if Ricean vampires can get piercings:
“His strength puzzled him as much as anything else. […] He drove a long thin knife right through his own hand. Such a strange sensation! And blood everywhere. Then the wounds closed and he had to open them again to pull the knife out.” – Khayman My Khayman, QotD
So yes. They can heal around a foreign object without ejecting it. But unlike with humans getting piercings, it seems the ‘severed’ tissue will try to heal completely back to its former state, instead of just becoming a cleanly healed puncture which you can then pass something through without difficulty. So taking the piercings out might be uncomfortable! (And they would then need to be re-done.)
Interview with the Vampire (1994) dir. Neil Jordan
one of the greatest performances ever
I’m in love with this film for Tom Cruise ‘s performance and the fabulous long hairstyle of Brad Pitt.
Definitely one of my fave scenes. There’s so much going on here. Lestat bursts in and immediately looks around to see if he can salvage anything out of this, but knows he can only save Louis, and still has time to have this thorny little exchange bc he’ll be damned if he isn’t going to take this as an opportunity to lay in a little verbal smackdown. “Have us sleeping in the field like cattle!” He has this subtle pain in his eyes, as if Louis was actually trying to usurp his role as the captain of this ship, not that he was in fact trying to commit suicide. It doesn’t even cross Lestat’s mind to remark on the fact that that’s what this was, a suicide attempt. Or maybe it does, and in not giving Louis the choice to go down with his fiery mansion, Lestat has made a renewed internal vow to guide Louis into becoming the vampire he knows he can be.
Lestat could have easily just let Louis burn up with the house.Except that he loves him. Even though this was an act of ENORMOUS REBELLION it only makes Lestat love Louis more, bc only a BAMF like Louis could do something like this, try to destroy everything an apparently materialistic creature like Lestat has ever wanted, and not care about the consequences. But that’s not who Lestat really is, that’s all just retail therapy, hoarding shiny things to fill a void, and they both know it. Having stripped away Lestat’s treasured hoard, Louis’ face is 99% sexual ecstasy, he’s so satisfied with himself here.
Louis didn’t do this to rile Lestat, he did it to win, and finally do away with himself. But seeing his maker there, clearly to rescue Louis, the most precious thing to Lestat in the whole place, had to touch something in Louis. Because he lets Lestat save him without putting up a fight, and he doesn’t run away as soon as he’s capable. He stays with Lestat. As much as he doesn’t like his methods or philosophy, he’s captivated by Lestat. He trusts Lestat.
They’re both helplessly bound together in how much they want and need each other ;A;
Part of what makes them so shippable is how much Lestat wants to own Louis, and how not-for-sale Louis is, but how much he is drawn to Lestat against his own better judgment, like a moth to flame.
Omg, I cannot! ;A; I didn’t read the HP books, only saw some of the movies, so I’ll turn this over to more qualified ppl.
^I do think Claudia would end up in the same house as Lestat, continuing the tradition like the Malfoy line does, but I could be wrong on that. The sorting hat would be taking a LONG time w/ Claudia, tho.
Anyone is invited to sort our beloved characters! Do the thing (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧
*gapes at you not having read them* Anyway, I feel
like trying though I always tend to change my mind on sortings as soon as I have made a choice. Here goes:
Lestat: Gryffindor.(And I don’t just say
so because it’s the house of the lion ;)) I think he is a Gryffindor because he
is ridiculously impulsive and as a result also ridiculously brave. He wants
greatness, notoriety, to be remembered and he loves people, “I want to be good
at being bad” he wants to be admired, even when his nature doesn’t lend itself
very well to admiration, thus the rock-star phase.
Louis: Ravenclaw. Louis is bookish and
rather introverted, he’s individualist and doesn’t give a hoot what other
people think, but he also tends to avoid confrontation whenever possible. He
doesn’t seem as eager to seek knowledge as most ‘claws, but the other
traits seem fitting.
Claudia: Ravenclaw. Claudia was obsessed with knowledge;
she wanted to know everything about vampires and about adulthood as well. She
was ultimately driven mad by the fact that she was kept from all this knowledge
by Lestat and by her perpetual childhood. She had no loyalty except to
herself and didn’t seem to bother at all with striving for greatness, she just
wanted to understand.
Armand: Slytherin. Armand is difficult,
because he wants so many things and he is so very contradictory in his
attitudes, but I say Slytherin because he always strives to create ‘community’,
but always in a way that revolves around him, he is the ‘Boss’ and he slides
into this role with quiet aptitude, he needs to be in control. His communities
are also often very selective and he is ruthless in keeping ‘rogues’ away. He
loves mystery and cares for the history of the vampires, but he doesn’t value
learning about past or present beyond what can benefit him personally (thus his
random fits of obsessive learning when entering a new century).
Marius: Ravenclaw: He is always learning
new things; he is obsessed with knowledge in the traditional sense and loves
being the one people come to for advice. He is also individualist to the point
where people have to leave him for their own sake and he avoids confrontations so much that he
would rather abandon someone he loves than have to be confronted with a unsatisfactory
situation.
Daniel: I just can’t decide whether he
is a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw, because on the one hand he is a journalist and
that seems to indicate a pretty heavy thirst for knowledge, but he is also
ridiculously brave, throwing himself into risky situations because of that
curiosity and he doesn’t exactly back
down. He is difficult because much of the time we see him outside of his
interview has him being chased by Armand and/or living with him and that doesn’t
exactly represent his normal behavior.
Does anyone else feel that the quality of the Vampire Chronicles books goes downhill the further you read into the series?
I mean, I love Anne Rice and her novels but sometimes I get the feeling she put out a book because of contractual obligations. Some of the VC books are just.. meh.
(If you don’t mind my input) I feel like the quality kind of slopes downward, comes up again just a little bit and then goes down even further. I actually enjoyed The Vampire Armand (despite the weird shit that went on), but as for the 2 books that preceded it, I really didn’t care for them at all. I haven’t read on-ward since because I’ve heard things regarding the other half of the series so, I can’t attest to that half.
I don’t mind 🙂
I’ve heard that some of the books are better but after I read TOBT it really killed my enjoyment of the series and I’ve only recently gotten back into it.
You’re not wrong—there are a lot of people who have the same general opinion (YMMV on which book began the downward spiral). #i-want-my-iwtv — you need to weigh in on this one!
I have argued to doctorate holders that IWTV is a true work of literary genius. TVL is my favorite for its unrepentant hedonism and introspection–I think Lestat is more self aware than Louis is, and more aware of how others think than Louis is, and I love his narration (despite the fact that I am literally Louis).
Queen of the Damned is well on par with TVL in its quality–and its a high quality straddling the line between good popular fiction and high brow literature……Armand, Blood and Gold, Pandora, Vittorio: they’re right below it in literary quality for me. The rest seem to be just good popular fiction, not great, but good.
I love them all to bits, and will defend Anne and her work, and continue to read whatever she writes, but….you are right, there really is a change in her writing.
*Officially weighing in*
Lots of good points above, I absolutely agree that IWTV is a true work of literary genius. Agreed on everything annabellioncourt wrote. For me, none of the later books remotely approaches the richness and intensity of IWTV, TVL, or QOTD, but yes, I’d say TVA was very good, and shouldn’t be lumped into the lesser VC simply bc of its post-MtD publishing date.
I would agree w/ firelight-fading that it’s not a sharp downward slide in quality, but more that “the quality kind of slopes downward, comes up again just a little bit and then goes down even further.” Blood Canticle would have ended this series, and for what it’s worth, I would say that Prince Lestat begins to get things back on a better track plot-wise and emotion-wise than it nearly ended on.
My short answer: I think AR can still capture that old quality we all fell in love with, albeit in slivers. Which is why I can’t disregard any of the books entirely. It’s still hard for me to accept Prince Lestat as canon, I might never, but there are moments and lines of dialogue in it that are SO VERY GOOD. Moments where I’ve had to pause and smile, because it was as if the old Lestat, from IWTV or TVL, actually graced us with his presence, if only for a moment.
However, in general, I would say that the VC began as a work of catharsis for her (we probably all know the Claudia = Michele Rice connection by now); she had real questions that needed answering, she had a powerful hunger to flex her storytelling muscles, steeped in all that older literature, she could still relate to us mere mortals, and she had her poet husband’s emotional and creative support. Don’t underestimate Stan’s contribution 😉
So I’d say that’s why the first few books (1-3 or 1-5 or whatever, depending on your cutoff point) are so strong, and why we mourn the loss of that passionate searching. Because as she got more successful, as she exorcised her demons, she might have lost touch with the emotions and questions she began the journey with. I’m happy she’s happy! I would probably still be a mess, if I had lost a child and a husband, both who still had a lot of life ahead of them ;A;
But I’m glad she seems to be in a good place, and that she’s still writing, even though she is probably financially secure enough not to need to touch WordPerfect ever again!
Hit the jump for more.
It’s easy to denounce a pile of books. It’s easy to just slam them down or make a gif of them on fireyes I did that before I finished reading it and it’s kind of a bonding experience to all agree to like or dislike a thing together. I get that. Hey, I actively dislike movie!QOTD. I immediately feel a little kinship w/ others who agree w/ me on that, and I am aware that’s mean to those who feel nostalgia for that movie, so I try to keep it to a minimum publicly.
Why do people dislike the later VC books? Because they’re wild? (They are!), They are historically inaccurate? (Probably!) The characters seem “off” or present unreliable narration as to past events told by other characters…? (They are and they do!)
^All of which are varying degrees of criminal acts that call for Fictional Character Protective Services™ but I advocate for the proverbial devil because that’s one of my things that I do so here we go:
She’s trying to appease the POTP who have begged her to give Lestat a biological child (check that off the list), and get married with a ~ceremony~ (allegedly happening in the next installment, Blood Paradise) bc how can he be at all remotely happy w/out making an honest man out of Louis FFS like c’mon.
She’s always tried to push the envelope and TOBT was WILD for its time in this series, how incredible that she’s managed to make that seem so tame in comparison to later canon!
Probably! But I’m not a history buff, so for me, to say the characters are wearing something that wasn’t invented until, idk, 50 yrs later, doesn’t bother me.
I can understand why it might irritate the hell out of someone else, though.
The characters seem “off” or present unreliable narration as to past events told by other characters…
But that happens in real life, too! X might have one version of a story and Y, who also experienced it, might have a much different version. I enjoy seeing the perspectives, and consider for myself who’s version I believe.
In the last analysis, AR can still blow me away with a scene, or just a line of dialogue, even in the far less popular books in the series. She can still make me put the book down and stare off into space for a breather.
BUT, as I mentioned above,
I think AR can still capture that old quality we all fell in love with, albeit in slivers. Which is why I can’t disregard any of the books entirely. It’s still hard for me to accept Prince Lestat as canon, I might never, but there are moments and lines of dialogue in it that are SO VERY GOOD. Moments where I’ve had to pause and smile, because it was as if the old Lestat, from IWTV or TVL, actually deigned to be present, if only for a moment.
Ok but Claudia called Armand Louis’ “companion” and it’s p obvious that Armand wants to fuck Louis and then she asks for Madeline as a “companion” and this is probably a gross thought cause Madeline is like “I want a daughter who can’t die” and Claudia is (in appearance) a child but could she be a lesbian?
I know she pines after an adult body but could it be more than that? Could she want a woman to sleep with?
This is a fascinating idea and I have thought about it myself quite a bit.
Possibly a very unpopular opinionbut: I don’t think they were sexual w/ each other in the mortal sense, but there was more to them than a mother-daughter relationship.
I don’t think Claudia’s pursuit of Madeleine was purely for a platonic mother-daughter relationship. That may have been part of it, and it was how she sold it to Louis because he couldn’t perceive Claudia as more than his daughter or as an adult trapped in a little body who would be capable of being involved in a romantic way with anyone, and she needed him to actually do the work for her since she was unable to perform the Dark Gift herself (and I do think she tried before asking him).
While it may not have been a relationship in a more conventionally romantic sense (I don’t believe they had anything sexual, in the mortal sense, going on), I do think Claudia/Madeleine was a ship of sorts, more of an emotional relationship. Claudia was the one in control, she was comparatively older and stronger in personality.
can I hijack/add to this? I think we can simplify the answer to this question a little if we go by canon, that is: the vampires aren’t actually sexual in the conventional sense, ever. This doesn’t mean that the emotions behind romantic love/sensual love isn’t a factor and I don’t think there’s anything in canon contradicting the idea of the two of them having the kind of sensual relationship the vamps enjoy; sharing blood, kissing etc. However I do think Madeleine was too mad to have any real awareness beyond wanting her daughter back in some form and while Claudia needed an assistant, a ‘companion’, I personally think she was too angry/bitter at this point to have room for Madeleine in her heart at all. If she wasn’t so hurt, I think she could have loved her in the typical taboo-defying way all Anne’s vamps seem to do. There isn’t really any definitive labels you could put on them as it is, beyond ‘vampire’ – as I read it anyway^^.
Just my two cents.
Good addition, good points!
I think Madeleine was fairly mad as a new vampire, and if she had been given more time, she might have regained some sanity under Claudia’s tutelage. Yes, Claudia was a bit angry/bitter herself as Armand had his claws in Louis at the time. Claudia had to rush the acquisition of Madeleine because she sensed that the rug was about to be pulled out from under her.
Over time, Claudia might have gained a sense of peace with Madeleine, in guiding her through things, and then the two of them could have explored the world together. And possibly shared that canon sensuality that Ricean vampires can have, which is free of taboos, as you pointed out.
I’m hoping Tumblr can help me out here. I’m looking for stories with non-binary/genderqueer protagonists. Any medium: books, comics, TV, movies, fanfiction (any fandom), whatever.
The key part of this is protagonist. I’m finding things which have non-binary/genderqueer characters but they are always supporting cast. I’m looking for stories where they are the main character. Or, if not the main, then close enough to it in terms of their significance to the story. (Such as Aaron Burr in Hamilton, or Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.)
I’m interested in anything which falls under the label non-binary or genderqueer, so genderfluid, bigender, agender, transgender, and so on are all welcome.
Any pointers are much appreciated. And if you don’t know of any, a signal boost would be appreciated as well. Thanks!
I-want-my-IWTV 